Selecting Your Horse

Forging:

striking the end of the branches or the undersurface of the shoe of the forefoot with the toe of the hindfoot (diagonal foot in pacers, lateral foot in trotters).

Interfering:

striking the supporting leg, usually at the fetlock, with the foot of the striding leg. Interference commonly occurs between the supporting front leg and a striding front leg or between a supporting hindleg and a striding hindleg.

Brushing:

slight interference.

Striking:

severe interference resulting in an open wound.

Paddling:

an outward deviation in the direction of the stride of the foreleg, the result of a narrow or pigeon-toed standing position. (See figure 5.)

Winging:

exaggerated paddling, very noticeable in high stepping horses.

Winding:

twisting the front leg around in front of the supporting leg as each stride is taken; sometimes called threading, plaiting, or rope-walking.

Scalping:

hitting the hind foot above or at the line of the hair (coronet) against the toe of a breaking over (beginning the next stride) forefoot.

Speedy-cutting:

occurs when a trotter or pacer traveling at speed hits the hindleg above the scalping mark and against the shoe of a breaking over forefoot. In trotters, legs on the same side are involved. In pacers, diagonal legs are involved.

Cross-firing:

essentially the same as forging in a pacer in which the inside of the near fore and hindleg (or the reverse) strike in the air as the stride of the hindleg is about completed and the stride of the foreleg is just beginning.

Pointing:

a stride with extension more pronounced than flexion. A horse guilty of a pointed stride breaks or folds his knees very slightly and is low-gaited in front. Thoroughbreds at the trot are pointy-gaited. The term pointing is also used to indicate the standing position pose a horse frequently takes when afflicted with navicular bone disease or injury to the foot or leg: he stands on three legs and points with the fourth.

Dwelling:

a perceptible pause in the flight of the foot as though the stride had been completed before the foot strikes the ground. It may occur either front or rear and is particularly common in heavy harness horses, heavy show ponies, and some saddlers.

Trappy:

a quick; high, but comparatively short stride.

Pounding:

a heavy contact with the ground, usually accompanying a high, laboring stride.

Rolling:

excessive lateral shoulder motion in wide-fronted horses.

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