THE NEW POCKET FARRIEK. 33 



spavin ; you should examine a horse thoroughly, there- 

 fore, before you buy him, and, in particular, see if all 

 the joints of his legs move with equal freedom. Most 

 horses that have the bone spavin are very apt to start 

 when you go to take up their legs, and will hardly let 

 you touch them with your hand ; examine them well, 

 therefore, wiih your eye, and see if between the fetlock 

 and the crown, the leg descends even and smooth ; for 

 if you see any protuberance between the flesh and the 

 skin, that looks like a sort of knot or kernel, you have 

 found the defect. 



In purchasing a horse, much regard should be paid to 

 his bringing up his hind parts well, for a spavined horso 

 never makes a full step with the leg that is aflfected. 



A CURB. 



If you observe the swelling to be exactly before the 

 knuckle, it is a curb, which is an accident that may 

 happen in different. manners; such as a strain in work- 

 ing, slipping his foot in a hole, or in marshy ground, 

 &c., out of^ which he pulls it with pain, and by that 

 means wrenches his hock, without dislocating any thing, 

 and yet, without speedy care he may be lamed. 



A RAT'S TAIL. 



There is also a defect which is more common in the 



ind than the fore legs, though the latter are not quite 



xempt from it, and it is called the Rat's Tail, and is 



thus known. When you see, from the hind part of the 



fetlock, up along the nerves, a kind of line or channel 



that separates the hair to both sides, this is a rat's tail ; 



