60 THE HORSE 



attention to the fact that a certificate of soundness 

 does not invariably qualify a horse as a desirable 

 acquisition for the stable. 



Sometimes a horse is too sound for its age. By 

 this somewhat paradoxical statement we mean to 

 imply that an animal of, say, seven or eight years 

 old, which shows no work, is an object of suspicion. 

 Few^ horses can do a fair three or four years' work 

 without showing wind-galls, if nothing worse, and 

 an enth^e absence of these concussion-indicators 

 suggests that the horse has been kept in cotton- 

 wool, and has for some reason or other never 

 earned his keep. As people do not usually keep 

 horses to look at, the inference is obvious. The 

 only exception to this rule is in the case of mares 

 which are known to have been kept for breeding. 

 For a reason which does not affect their working 

 capacity, they may have had to be drafted out of 

 the stud, and they may then be as fresh on their 

 legs as colts when they come into the worker's 

 hands at a mature age. 



CUEB 



(See Fig. 26.) Curb is a swelling at the back of, 

 and a few inches below, the point of the hock. 

 It can only be seen when the observer is standing 



