32 THE NEW POCKET FAKRIER. 



A narrow-chested horse can never have a good body, 

 nor breathe well, and such horses as have straight ribs, 

 and are at the same time great feeders, will soon distend 

 their bellies to such a degree that it will be impossible 

 for their entrails to be contained within their ribs, but 

 they will press down, and form what is called a cow's 

 belly. A man should never purchase a light-bellied and 

 fiery horse, because he will quickly destroy himself; 

 but in this case, care should be taken to distinguish 

 between fierceness and vigour. Light-bellied horses are 

 apt to be troubled with spavins. 



SPAVINS. 



A permanent cure of the spavin can rarely be made, 

 and we consider a spavined horse as a ruined one. 



A spavin is a lump or' swelling on the inside of the 

 hock, that benumbs the limbs and destroys the free use 

 of the hind legs. It makes the horse go extremely 

 lame, and causes him much agony. 



Should the joint be generally swelled all over, he 

 must have had a blow or bruise ; if in any particular 

 part, as in the pot, or hollow part, or on the inside, the 

 vein full and proud, and the swelling soft, it is a blood 

 spavin ; you cannot therefore take too much care in ex- 

 amining the hocks of delicate horses, for let the swelling 

 appear ever so small upon the flat of the lower part of 

 the hock, within side, though the horse may not limp, 

 you ought to be apprehensive that in time, and with but 

 little labour, the spavin will increase on him. 



The fat spavin comes almost in the same place as the 

 other, but is larger. 



A third kind is the ox spavin, and this is thought the 

 worst of the three. If the swelling be hard, it is a bone 



