134 



I have now almost exhausted the list of those 

 disorders which are at once common in horses, and 

 capable, at least in their milder stages, of being 

 concealed from the eye of the superficial observer. 

 But there are still a few general remarks upon the 

 subject that deserve attention. If the hair of a 

 horse appears to be rubbed oft' here and there, es- 

 pecially about the head and the flanks, if he is 

 observed to rub himself against the sides of the 

 stall, or to rub one leg against the other, it is pro- 

 bable that he is mangy : in this case a general 

 roughness of the coat is discernible ; not of that 

 kind which marks the change of the winter coat, 

 but as if he had been carelessly curried. A pur- 

 chaser will do well to notice any peculiar marks: 

 as for instance, if there are grey hairs visible in 

 a kind of ring round the fetlock joint, or above 

 and below the knee, they imply the frequent and 

 perhaps habitual wearing of a boot, and of course 

 habitual cutting, or the speedy cut. 



Any traces of a sore back, though apparently 

 healed, are very suspicious : a new saddle may 

 have occasioned them, as you will assuredly be 

 told is the fact ; but your own saddle may be 

 equally new to a new horse. The slightest ten- 

 derness of the back makes the horse unserviceable 



