SHOEING YOUNG HORSES. 107 



ing its sign at the extremities of the limbs. It is proper to sug- 

 gest, therefore, that, when beginning examinations at these 

 points and failing to identify the trouble, you should not sus- 

 pend investigations without subjecting other regions of the limbs 

 and trunk to a close scrutiny, until the real cause of the ailment 

 is discovered and you have satisfactorily remedied it before per- 

 manent injury ensues from neglect or inadvertence. It may be 

 that the horse is not well-balanced in physical build. If the 

 shoulders are very straight the feet will not be properly flexed, 

 nor will they if the pasterns are short and upright. He may 

 have long legs and a short reach underneath, or he may have 

 long, sloping or weak pasterns and be unnaturally close coupled 

 in the back, or exceptionally open-angled from hip to hock. 

 Also he may be long in his sweeps behind or he may carry his 

 head too high or too low for a proper balance on his limbs, and 

 any one of these so-called structural defects — by insufficiency or 

 misdirection of purpose — may give rise to a derangement in the 

 movement of extention or flexion, to take eflect in action or gait, 

 or may lead to injury of the feet or limbs, as I will amplify in 

 the section on " Faults of Conformation." 



Care of Horses' Mouths. — Illustrations in point of prob- 

 able or remote causes assisting to disturb the action and break 

 the gait of horses — which shoeing will avail nothing whatever 

 toward remedying — may be found in the horse's mouth. 



This is one of the most sensitive organs of the equine econ- 

 omy. All young horses coming three or four years old should 

 have their mouths and teeth carefully examined when any 

 symptoms of tenderness or irritation are shown, as it is at this 

 age that some of the deciduous molars are replaced by the per- 

 manent teeth. In some cases this gives rise to much pain and 

 annoyance to horses, aflecting their temper and sensibility. 

 Again, in some horses, the structure of the teeth is of a compar- 

 atively soft nature, and wears upon the grinding substances in 

 8 



