COMMON UXSOUXDXESSES. 159 



more often met with than others, and some rarely 

 heard of. 



Thus, blindness and roaring are both unsound- 

 nesses, but there would be fifty horses afi'ected with 

 the latter for one of the former. Curbs, spavins, 

 and ringbone are all sources of lameness, but a man 

 will meet with half-a-dozen cases of curbs for one of 

 spavins, and a ringbone is comparatively seldom 

 seen. 



There are also certain causes of unsoundness 

 which attack only particular breeds of horses, and 

 such as are used for particular purposes. Thus, you 

 never see a heavy-bred cart-horse suffering from a 

 curb, while on the other hand they suffer from what 

 is called a sidebone, that is, an ossification of the 

 cartilages above the hoof, in a number of instances. 



In examining a horse then, you should pay par- 

 ticular attention to particular points, varying in the 

 class of horse you are looking at. 



We will begin with the horse's hind legs, as 

 these are the ones where some of the most common 

 forms of unsoundness are to be found. IS'ow if you 

 stand alongside of a horse, and run your eye down 

 his outline, beginning at his tail, the point of his 

 hind leg corresponding to the knee of the fore leg 

 is the hock, and the next joint below that is the 

 fetlock or ankle ; from the point of the hock down 

 the leg to the fetlock should be a perfectly straight 

 line. If it bulges out a little below the point of the 



