How to Examine the Fore Legs. 297 



fault here, there will be a wasting of the muscles, 

 and the defect will be more readily detected when 

 the horse is in motion. If any symptom of lame- 

 ness is observable, pass the hand over the spot, 

 and heat is sure to be found in the part ; it may 

 be probably verified by applying your nose to the 

 part, for in all probability there will be the smell 

 of some liniment which has been applied. 



When examining a horse, never let the dealer's 

 man hold its head high, nor place its feet on 

 rising ground, because, as I have said before, 

 while a horse stands in this position, ihQ defects 

 (if he has any) of its fore-legs will not be ap- 

 parent, whereas if it stands with its feet on the 

 level ground, if the limbs have been shaken from 

 hard work, they will exhibit a tremulous appear- 

 ance, the knees will be more or less bent, and 

 the heels will not rest firmly on the ground as 

 they ought to do. Horses that have been hard 

 worked will have the fetlocks of the hind legs 

 bent and relaxed, and the natural elasticity of 

 the tendons and ligaments will have departed. 

 The horse that is termed groggy, when standing 

 in a quiescent state, will be found with a leaning 

 posture over the fore-legs, the feet of which will 

 be further under the belly than the upper portion 

 of the limbs, and the entire limb forming a flat 

 semicircle with the knees at the extreme point 

 of the curve. In looking at the action of a horse 

 see that its feet are lifted high, and that all four 

 feet clear the ground. Some horses have high 

 action with their fore-feet, and would scarcely 



