been guilty of before, it is always a good idea 

 to have the horse's teeth examined, especially 

 so if he is a young horse. It does not require 

 much of an injury to the tender lining of the 

 cheeks to make a horse carry his head sideways 

 or toss it up and down, thereby getting his 

 body and feet out of line, or throwing himself 

 out of balance. And when a horse is out of 

 balance or his head and his legs are not work- 

 ing in harmony, do not blame him for doing 

 thinos to himself that under existing condi- 

 tions he cannot avoid. If a horse has formed 

 the habit of carrying his head sideways and 

 hits his knees all the horseshoers that ever 

 went down the line cannot stop his knee hitting 

 until his head has been straightened. 



I have often been ridiculed by light thinkers 

 for advising a trainer or owner of a horse that 

 cross fired badly, or hit the inside knee only 

 when going around the first turn, to work him 

 the wrong way of the track a few times. I 

 have known horses of both gaits that would 

 almost knock a knee oflf going around the turns 

 the right way of the track that would hardly 

 brush a boot going the wrong way. A horse 

 will get into the habit of carrying h^'s head out 

 going the right way of the track, but when he 

 is jogged or turned to come back he is gener- 

 ally out well in the track, and his head is either 

 straight or turned in the opposite direction and 

 his body straight. Of course, you cannot race 

 a horse that way, but you can give him a lot 

 of work in that direction, and while you are 

 doing it you will be teaching his legs and body 



64 



