64: THE HORSE 



ance. The feel with the hand should decide the 

 matter, because, if the appearance be due to 

 peculiar conformation, and not to a pathological 

 condition, the course of the back tendons will be 

 straight. A horse does not very often have curbs 

 on both legs, so that great suspicion should be 

 aroused if one hock differs in appearance from 

 the other. If there are, indeed, curbs on both 

 legs, the animal should be unhesitatingly rejected 

 as quite unfit for any but the lightest work. 



Having decided that a horse has a curb, the 

 next point is to endeavor to find out its exact 

 natm^e, and when and how it was acquired. Ob- 

 viously, if the curb is of recent origin there will be 

 inflammation, and the horse will be more or less 

 lame from the pain, and inclined to rest the leg. 

 In this state a horse should never be bought with 

 the expectation that he will be shortly fit to work 

 again. The active mischief will take weeks to 

 repair, and the horse will afterward need at least 

 a six weeks' run at grass, with blistering and per- 

 haps firing. 



A moribund curb, however, is quite another 

 matter, and a horse with the disfigurement may, 

 under certain conditions to be named hereafter, be 

 almost as good as ever he was, and quite worth 



