LOU DILLON 27 



with very light rim pad and 214 ounce shoes behind — 

 swedge shoes with small heel calk. 



"All this had a great deal to do with Lou and her gait. 

 But the greatest improvement through the most essential 

 thing for her to have, was the lip strap. From her early 

 development, or breaking, when you would put a bit in her 

 mouth she would continually shake her head. I removed 

 the bridle check and took a straight Jaynes bit and from 

 the very first time I put a lip strap on her she went smoother 

 and better. As long as she was fighting the bit and shak- 

 ing her head it interfered with her gait. While a lip strap 

 is considered very severe, and it is if a man sees fit to make 

 it so, a horse in order to go fast must go pure-gaited, with 

 no discord and no pulling. You can drive a horse more air- 

 ily, lighter-handed with a lip strap than you can with a bit 

 alone. In the majority of cases the bit pulls back on the 

 teeth which have no life or resiliency. But a lip strap 

 passes over the front teeth, rests on the gums and at a point 

 where every horse has a pair of very sensative nerves. And 

 every horse soon learns what that means. A man must be 

 light-handed in order to use the lip strap successfully. I 

 have had wonderful success with it as I generally drive my 

 horses low-headed and in a great many cases with no check 

 at all. For instance, Lou Dillon wore no check and I could 

 mention many others. 



"I am very much with the lip strap as Robert Bonner 

 was with the toe weights. He told me one day while I was 

 visiting with him in the office of the New York Ledger that 

 he believed the toe-weight would increase the endurance of 

 some horses. As he explained it a horse must go smoothly 

 and without friction to go fast and far. In other words, 

 would last longer going at a smooth gait than if he went 

 at a rough gait and pulled. The average horse takes too 

 much out of himself by pulling on the bit. With a lip strap 

 properly adjusted a horse will not pull half as much as he 

 will on a bit. At all events I have scored many notable 

 training successes with the lip strap where I know I would 

 have failed without it. 



"Lou Dillon was a chestnut mare, foaled 1898, bred 



