TYPES AND MARKET CLASSES OF LIVE STOCK 391 



for, as has been stated, all muscles end above the knee and are 

 attached to the parts below by tendons. Meatiness about the 

 knee interferes with the working of the tendons, and lessens the 

 free and easy flexion of the joints. Hence the knee should be 

 clean, flat across the front, and well defined. This is essential. 



Cannons. The cannons should be short and clean, with 

 the tendons large and set well back from the bone. As viewed 

 from the side, there should be good width, and the cannon should 

 be flat instead of round. As one passes the hand along the 

 cannon bone, it should feel smooth, hard, and dense. The 

 skin and hair covering it should be fine. Between the bone and 

 the tendons there should be well-marked depressions or grooves. 

 Meatiness about the cannons is as objectionable as it is about 

 the joints, and for similar reasons. The cannons furnish one 

 of the best means of determining quality. Clean, flat, smooth 

 cannons have bone that is composed of fine cells, and that is 

 flinty in character. Coarse, rough bone is made up of large 

 cells, and is porous and spongy. Too much refinement of bone 

 is often found in the draft horse. On the other hand, large 

 bone is frequently found which is very lacking in quality. There 

 should be a combination of substance with quality. It is possi- 

 ble to make up in quality a certain lack of substance, but not 

 the contrary. 



Fetlock joint. The fetlock joint should be wide from front 

 to back, clean, and well defined. 



Pasterns. The pasterns should be oblique to relieve con- 

 cussion, and should show reasonable length. A slope of about 

 forty-five degrees is desired. More slope than this tends to- 

 ward weakness. The pasterns should show plenty of sub- 

 stance, yet be clean, and should spread out or expand at the 

 lower end into wide, round, open hoof-heads or coronets. 



Feet. The old saying, "No foot, no horse/' is full of truth. 

 A draft horse of excellence in all respects except feet is as worth- 

 less as a fine building on a flimsy foundation. When it is con- 

 sidered to what great stress the foot of the draft horse is sub- 

 jected, the wonder is that feet last as long as they do on hard 

 pavements. Driven against cobblestones and brick by the 

 great weight of the body above, the fore feet undergo repeated 

 shocks which soon batter to pieces feet that are defective. The 

 foot should be large, to afford a large bearing surface. When 

 viewed from front or side, the axis of the foot should coincide 

 with the axis of the pastern. The hoof should appear dense, 



