28 THE HOKSE 



cause is due to faulty conformation, and, under 

 such circumstances, it is a certainty that the horse 

 will fall again sooner or later, however carefully 

 driven. Horses which are straight shouldered 

 and heavy in front, as already remarked, should 

 be looked at with suspicion, and if, in addition to 

 this, they already have telltale marks, they should 

 be carefully avoided. When a horse is well made, 

 and has a light head and neck, the cause of the 

 broken knees must be looked for elsewhere, and 

 one should either suspect thi'ush, or that the horse 

 had fallen from some kind of sunstroke, in both 

 of which cases the accident is unlikely to re-occur 

 if reasonable care is taken to avoid the unfavor- 

 able conditions. Many scars about the hocks in- 

 dicate that the animal is a kicker. 



There are several conditions which, although 

 they come under the technical head of unsound- 

 ness, yet may not interfere with the working ca- 

 pacity of the animal. In the case of splints (Plate 

 11. Fig. 3), for instance, the cause and position are 

 the important factors to consider before rejecting 

 an animal which has one. If, as is often the case, 

 they are caused by the horse having been worked 

 too young, and while the bones and ligaments are 

 unlit, they will be less liable to incapacitate the 



