CAUSES OF UNSOUNDNESS. 91 



usually absent in the latter. All forms of 

 stiffness of the knees constitute unsoundness, 

 although the degrees of stiffness vary. When 

 buying a horse it is a very good plan to flex 

 the knee-joints. This can be done by grasping 

 the fore-arm with the left hand, allowing it to rest 

 against the examiner's knee, at the same time 

 grasping the cannon with the right hand, when the 

 two parts— that is, the fore-arm and the cannon— 

 should, by flexion, almost touch each other. A 

 horse that has been repeatedly down, although it 

 may not have actually broken the skin, has the 

 latter thickened ; but the most significant sign is 

 that afforded by the presence of a few dark 

 coloured hairs, or white hair. Superficial grazing 

 is indicated by the roughened, or broken appear- 

 ance of the hair. 



Speedy-cutting. 



By universal consent this is looked upon as un- 

 soundness, and rightly so, because it predisposes 

 the animal to stumble. Faulty conformation, high 

 action, and defective shoeing, are the chief causes 

 of it. It is indicated by the presence of one or 

 more scars just below the knee upon the inner 

 side, and every buyer of horses with high action 



