54 



foot only ; for, If he should chance to be lame in both 

 fore feet, the pain, of aUowing the weight to rest upon either 

 will cause him to pass it as quickly, as possible, from one 

 to the other, and not only save him from condemnation, but 

 most probably gain for him the reputation of being a quick 

 stepper. 



The truth is, that a foot, afflicted with inflammation and 

 pain, suflicient to deter a horse from bearing a fan- share of 

 his weight upon it, cannot be considered to be in a sound 

 condition ; and so long as the disability continues, so long is 

 the foot unsound. The various degrees of " jwinting," rang- 

 ing between the occasional partial withholding of the weight 

 from the heel, without advancing the foot, perceptible only 

 to the most practiced eye, and the habitual thrusting out of 

 the whole leg to the front, palpable to every beliolder, are 

 so many indications of pain in the foot ; the intensity of 

 the pain being marked by the degree of pointing ; and in 

 spite of the determination to consider them as mere varia- 

 tions of a trick, they are unequivocal symptoms of unsound 

 feet. The horse is far too wise an animal ever to incon- 

 venience his whole frame, merely to gratify a particular 

 trick; and I take it, his reason for pointmg will be found 

 upon investigation to have much more to do with a desire 

 to reheve himself from pain, than an Inclination to indulge 

 a caprice. The act of pointmg calls upon him to withdraw 

 half the support from half of the base, on which his body 

 stands ; and that too at a part where it can least be 

 spared ; where liis head and neck overhang it, and tend to 

 throw a great increase of weight very unevenly upon the 



