cutter, or forms any other disagreeable habit 

 in his way of going look for the cause of the 

 trouble first in the front legs or feet. I have 

 known trotters that would scalp going slow, 

 speedy-cut going a three-minute clip, bark their 

 hind shins and hit their knees going a 2.30 

 gait, and hit their hocks and knees going at 

 their highest flight of speed. Going slow 

 they did not go high enough in front to hit 

 their knees, neither would they hit the knees 

 when scalping, but as soon as they got to the 

 point where they hit the hind shins, the front 

 feet began to find the knees. What's the 

 answer? Going slow he was a line trotter; 

 as his speed increased his gait behind opened 

 out but not sufficiently to let his hind shins 

 and his front feet pass in the air without 

 brushing; when he got to his top flight the out- 

 side of the upturned front foot brushed the hock 

 on the inside of the leg on the same side and 

 this threw the front foot slightly out of line, 

 giving it a slight inward wobble and in pass- 

 ing forward the opposite knee is hit or brushed. 

 I have seen a horse come in from a fast heat 

 so lame from a blow received away around on 

 the back part of the knee that he was walking 

 on three legs ; and he got it in the manner I 

 have described going around the turn. The 

 revolution of his front foot w^as interfered 

 with and went forward on a wobble far out 

 of line. Nothing else could be expected, and 

 the blow under the knee of the opposite leg 

 was the logical result. 



All knee-hitting trotters do not speedy-cut, or 

 hit their hocks, but all trotters that do speedy- 



29 



