Requisites of Perfect Balance 1 1 7 



sence of a definite plan or record of gait, is likely to render those parts 

 liable to a strain and breakdown. It is therefore desirable to allow a 

 large amount of time as a necessary factor in balancing a horse. It 

 has happened that after horses have been turned out or given a rest 

 from continued drilling and wrong balancing, they resume their work 

 with better prospects. That is really because nature had time to re- 

 adjust the animal machinery, and the horse could start under better 

 conditions, or under conditions suited to its capacity. It shows the 

 danger or the folly of forcing balance. This "make-or-break" policy 

 is based on impatience and the rush spirit of this country. It has no 

 foundation in common sense or logic or science. By granting time 

 it is not understood that conditions for balancing should be "cut and 

 dried" beforehand and that the process of balancing is to be one of 

 making the horse accommodate itself to these preconceived ideas 

 of balancing. Such an allowance of time is not meant, but rather 

 such time as is required for a careful investigation and understanding 

 of the gait of that particular horse and for the logical correction of 

 that gait by means of the records of the results of each corrective shoe- 

 ing. What many and careful experiments have taught me and what 

 seem to be the rules applicable to all kinds of horses, I shall endeavor 

 to show in the following chapters. 



