28 PURCHASING FROM THE STABLES. 



forward instead of backward, the knee appearing 

 too much straightened, bent a little back, calf- 

 kneed. This is a malformation, but never pro- 

 ceeds from work, like the former, neither is it of 

 a hundredth part the consequence ; indeed, some 

 persons prefer a slight slant forwards, so as to be 

 sure there is none backwards. If your own eyes 

 are straight, and not askew, you ought, when 

 standing about a yard distant at the side, to dis- 

 cover either of these defects at a glance, however 

 slight they may be. 



The legs are sometimes bowed, and a bow-leg- 

 ged horse generally dishes, and one that dishes 

 will never run. Dishing action should not be 

 called bad action, but rather floundering, or 

 crooked action : bad action is when the legs are 

 not lifted sufficiently high, nor dropped sufficiently 

 forward. 



The feet are not to turn out, nor in : if the 

 former, he will be liable to cut ; if the latter, it 

 is equally bad, for the weight either way is most 

 unevenly distributed. The point of the toe should 

 be found exactly under the point of the shoulder : 

 dropping your stick perpendicularly from the 

 point of the shoulder will tell you this in a 

 second, if your eye does not. As much as it is 

 behind that, so much is the weight thrown too 

 much forward; and as in this- case the chest will 



