26 THE PRACTICAL HORSE KEEPER. 



Any sign of " windsucking " or " crib biting " can be seen 

 at the same time. However, the latter is rare among horses of 

 that class, or, to speak more properly, dealers so seldom own 

 horses having that vice that the " cribbers " are generally 

 shown in the street ; and when you ask the seller to put the 

 horse into a stable for a short time, and provided he is all 

 right you will pay for him afterwards, that individual generally 

 has a great aversion to adopting this course or lodging the horse 

 in a stable at all. " What can you want him in a stable for 1" 

 he asks ; " here 's the horse, you can have any trial you like 

 with him ; what more do you want ? " The purchaser says he 

 always likes to see a horse in a stable, and the seller then 

 pleads that he might miss another customer. 



However, it generally ends in the seller keeping his horse, 

 as nothing will induce him to put him in a stable. Occasion- 

 ally a local man, for some reason or other, is afraid to stable 

 his horse. A very fine horse, belonging to a farmer, was seen 

 at a fair in Oxfordshire, and the bargain was concluded, but 

 before he was paid for, it was requested that the horse might 

 be put in a stable. Nothing would induce the seller to accede 

 to this request, and he took the horse away. However, as the 

 horse was very much liked, he was followed, and at last the 

 reason for refusal was given by the farmer. He was afraid 

 some one might take the horse away while he was waiting at 

 the inn to be paid for him. So that in these cases, it is 

 necessary to find out as much as possible of the character of 

 the man you are buying the horse from, and form an opinion 

 accordingly. In the above case the horse, when lodged in the 

 stable, was found to be all right. 



Laminitis, or the result of it, in the shape of flat feet, is a 

 frequent cause of unsoundness. Some horses have naturally 

 flat feet, and therefore it is very necessary to decide between 

 what is natural and what is the result of disease. In a busy 

 fair there is not time to take off a horse's shoes, and in the 



