Types and Market Classes of Live Stock 



421 



not the same defect as B in Fig. 159.) Some horses are very slightly 

 sickled and some are very crooked indeed. Such a conformation is 

 decidedly objectionable because bent hocks are not as stout as straight 

 hocks at a hard pull or at work of any kind, and furthermore the crooked 

 shape of the hock and leg brings an added strain on the hock joint. 

 The sickle hock often develops a curb, and is also subject to other 

 unsoundnesses. 



In showing horses, it is common to stretch them out on their legs 

 to a slight extent, so as to raise the head and neck, level up the croup, 

 and increase the slope of the front pasterns. A horse in such a posi- 

 tion is more apt to hold it than a horse standing naturally, and for all 

 these reasons it is practiced by horsemen. It also has the advantage 

 of covering up defects in the set of the legs, particularly a sickle hock. 

 If a horse with sickle hocks is stretched or "camped out" a bit, his 



Fig. 162. — Sickle hock. A, Hind leg of a horse of correct conformation; B and 

 C, two positions of the hind leg of a horse with a sickle hock; B, in a position easily 

 exposing the defect; C, in a position in which the defect is not so apparent. 



hind cannons become vertical, and the novice is likely to overlook the 

 fact that the line of his cannons, even though it is vertical, points back 

 of his buttock, often to a considerable degree. (See C in accompany- 

 ing drawings, and note that this is not the same as C in Fig. 159.) It 

 is only by noting carefully the direction of the lines indicated in the 

 accompanying drawings that one can detect this fault. 



Determination of age from the teeth. — The age of the horse is 

 easily determined up to and including the fifth year by an examination 

 of the incisor teeth, of which there are three pairs in the upper jaw 

 and three pairs in the lower. All of these incisors are temporary or 

 milk teeth up to two years of age. At birth none of the temporary 

 teeth have cut the gums, but at one year they have all appeared and 

 the middle and intermediate pairs are in wear, but the corner pairs 



