legs, he will develop into a worthless, nerve- 

 racking knee-hitter, and it will cost you con- 

 siderable money when you find it out, after he 

 is grown, in your efforts to remedy a defect 

 that should have been attended to before he 

 had reached his first birthday. 



After a colt is weaned and he is in pasture, 

 you will notice that, w^hile eating, he sprawls 

 out in front and the constant dropping of his 

 head to the ground forces the shoulder blades 

 back, so that w^hen he picks up his front foot 

 it folds under his body nine times out of ten, 

 instead of on a line with it. Youngsters are 

 practically in the same position in box stalls 

 while eating hay off the floor, the only dif- 

 ference being that at that period in their lives 

 they are much stronger and if the feet and legs 

 have been properly cared for before that time, 

 there is little danger of their becoming crooked 

 if the feet are regularly and properly dressed. 



If you will take the pains to stand the very 

 young colt on a smooth surface and have his 

 legs massaged and gently twisted so that the 

 feet stand squarely in front of him, putting 

 them back into the position nature intended 

 they should occupy, you will be doing some- 

 thing that will bring good results. The out- 

 side of the foot should be dressed so that he 

 stands level, not rocked out; and the toe of 

 the foot should be slightly squared so that in 

 w^alking or trotting he will break over in per- 

 fect line with the pastern joints. Massaging 

 or hand rubbing a colt's front legs in this man- 

 ner, twice a week, w-ill do much towards keep- 

 ing them straight. In dressing a foot to keep 



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