70 EX AM IN A TION OF HORSES 



will be unsound. Happy will it be for the purchaser if 

 he be in a position to let his purchase work a year on 

 land and take him off the hard roads altogether. 



Toes out-turned or in-turned are not of themselves an 

 unsoundness, but lead to it. 



Out-turned toes are frequently the effects of badly- 

 formed legs ; and we cannot be too careful in examining 

 the inside of the fetlock joint for signs of " brushing." 

 The fetlocks often receive such severe blows with this 

 defect that the horse comes down. We often find 

 thickening of the parts and scars. In such cases the 

 thicke?iing is not from simple hypertrophy, but from in- 

 flammatory deposit set up by the blows, and can only be 

 of a very limited extent for a horse to remain technically 

 sound. If he has to go fast with a weight on his back, he 

 is with such a conformation practically unsound. There 

 is often a thickening about the sesamoid bones in such 

 cases. This is on account of the parts having more than 

 their share of weight, also to the internal lateral ligaments 

 of the fetlock participating in the inflammation and 

 becoming softened, and therefore relaxed. I have in- 

 variably rejected horses with out-turned toes and enlarge- 

 ments on the inside of the fetlock joints, and have never 

 had cause to regret it, although a horse might be sound 

 in every other respect, because I regard it as so very pro- 

 bable that the internal lateral ligament may have become 

 deteriorated. 



In-turned toes are very objectionable when the defect is 

 very pronounced. The conformation which leads to it is 



