124 CARE AND TRAINING OF TROTTERS AND PACERS. 



Chapter VIII— The Six Principal Defects in 

 Gait. 



(Note — This article appeared in the 1911 September magazine 

 number of "The Hurseman." The call for extra copies exhaustec] 

 that i?sue and the article was reprinted by request in the 1911 

 Christmas number of the same journal. Inasmuch as that issue is 

 also exhausted we are reprinting it in this Term:iient form. This 

 chapter is covered by a separate copyright although the entire book 

 is copyrighted. Mr. Jordan's book "The Gait of the American Trotter 

 and Pacer." may be obtained from The Chicajiu Hors-eman Newsjiaper 

 Co.. 5."S So. Dearborn St.. Chicago. 111., i.rice .$.S..".0 postpaid.) 



BY RUDOLPH JORDAN, JR. 



E would have obtained a better 

 type of harness horse a long 

 time ago had we observed the 

 necessity of its utility as well as 

 its speed, and even now we could 



gradually form a better type of 



gait, by persistent and intelli- 

 gent effort, by making the locomotion of that ani- 

 mal more perfect from one generation to another. 

 In the end a nearly perfect gait would be natural 

 to the harness horse. In order to correct the de- 

 fects of a gait we should have as clear an idea of 

 the locomotion as possible. After that has been 

 obtained the remedies do not appear so mysterious 

 as before. 



When we speak of a defect in the locomotion 

 of the horse we generally mean any visible sign of 

 an uneven action and of the interference of the 

 four feet. We judge too much by the eye when 

 the animal is in motion, w^hile more may be 

 learned from the relations of the legs as expressed 



