:74 HORSEMANSHIP. 



So far all being satisfactory, or fairly so, stand the horse on 

 level ground up against a dead wall, look for broken knees, 

 capped hocks, spavins, thoroughpin, splints, scars in the 

 inside of the knees, above and below, produced by speedy 

 cuts, side and ring bone, thickening of back sinews, 

 difference in size of feet, rings round the walls of the hoofs, 

 converging towards the heel, sand cracks, etc. Look 

 carefully at the back part of the fore leg, along the pasterns, 

 and above the fetlock for wounds caused by the operator's 

 knife in unnerving. 



If he stands well and true — many perfectly sound horses, 

 especially those that have been in harness, or often and long 

 in dealer's hands, are taught to stand in a straddling position, 

 like a cavalry horse in India at his pickets in the lines — and 

 his general conformation be pleasing to the eye, or sufticiently 

 so, have him walked and trotted, with a long loose rein 

 giving perfect liberty of head and movement, not merely past 

 broadside on, but to and from you. If the action be fair 

 and square, free from dishing, especially that form known 

 as disJiing in, which is dangerous, and otherwise true and 

 sprightly, order the saddle to be put on. 



While this is being done, have a look at his withers for 

 fistula, and note if there be any marks on the throat of the 

 crib-biting strap. It may be remarked en passant, that a 

 cribber is not in the eyes of the law unsound unless the vice 

 has militated against the horse's usefulness. Crib-biting and 

 wind-sucking are two forms of the same pernicious habit. 

 In the former case the horse lays hold of the manger or 

 other object with his incisors, arches his neck, and draws 

 in air with a peculiar noise ; in the latter he presses his lips 

 against the hard object, brings his feet together, and then, 

 arching his neck, sucks in volumes of air without fixing his 

 teeth. 



