HOW TO BUY AND SELL. 17 



place, it is usually slow, and some time elapses before it 

 produces lameness; with a little care they are generally 

 kept in health, and must be pronounced to be SOUND. 



OPEN HOOFS. 



The larger-footed horse has more useless weight of his 

 own, not only from having been accustomed to wet, low 

 situations, but also from having had, when young, a 

 greater abundance of food. From having had less exer- 

 cise, and from the heavy atmosphere having induced 

 quiet, the horn of his hoof has become thin, soft, and 

 weak. The action of this class of horse is high, which 

 is peculiarly bad for the shape of his feet. This habit 

 has been partly acquired through his having been obliged 

 in marshy situations to clear his feet from the soil; but 

 in some horses bred on plains it arises from the position 

 of the shoulder. 



It must be obvious to every one, that bringing these 

 horses into dry stables, and making them work upon 

 hard and dry ground, aggravated by their high action, does 

 a greater violence to them than to the small-footed animal; 

 and, as a natural consequence, a very little work pro- 

 duces serious inflammation, pumice-sole, and sometimes 

 perpetual lameness. 



These diseases are not merely the result of neglect; 

 they are induced by putting the horse to a kind of work 

 for which he is totally unfitted. 



The large-hoofed horse, certainly in his earlier years, 

 should be put to moderate if not slow work, with as little 

 weight upon his back as possible. 



FLAT FOOT. 



Where the sole of the foot is large and flat, and slightly 

 convex, and where the heels are open, it is often mis- 



