SEVERE BITS AND CHECKS. 281 



unbalanced, hitched, and got rough in his gait, the 

 proper remedy was to go back to a rate at which he 

 could go square. I cannot too often or too emphati- 

 cally declare the necessity of preserving true balance. 

 Every revolution should be as smooth and true as a 

 perfectly balanced wheel that runs with little expendi- 

 ture of driving power — not like a wheel with a big 

 side to it, that is only kept laboriously revolving by 

 constant driving. Development ceases at that point 

 where truly balanced and regular action is transformed 

 into the jerky hitching, irregular way of " getting 

 there " that we so often see. 



You can, with little practice, judge whether a horse 

 driven by another is trotting square by listening to the 

 foot-falls. The sound of a fast, well balanced trotter's 

 steps mark time as regularl}^ as the swinging of a 

 pendulum. Time is beaten, one, two, three, four, one, 

 two, three, four — smoothly and accurately, with the 

 intervals strictly regular. 



Checks and bits have a good deal to do with balanc- 

 ing the horse, and the less restraint or annoyance these 

 appliances give the horse the better. I like plain bits. 

 If you cannot control a horse with a plain bit, you 

 have a small chance of making a trotter of him at all. 

 Such bits as the " Perfection," ** Rockwell," etc., I con- 

 sider pernicious contrivances. There are cases where 

 a horse has improved with a severe bit, but they are 

 exceptional. With what extreme measures have 

 achieved I do not quarrel, but I do argue against using 

 artificial and unusual appliances unnecessarily, and this 

 apphes not only to bits, checks, shoes, weights, etc., 

 but to every thing connected with training. 



