CHAPTER I. 15 



mark of good feet than thin. Again, one 

 should not fail to note whether the hoofs at 

 toe and heel come up high or lie low. High 

 ones keep what is called the frog 5 well off 

 the ground, while horses with low hoofs walk 

 with the hardest and softest part of the foot 

 at once, like knock-kneed men. Simon says 

 that their sound is a proof of good feet, and 

 he is right ; for a hollow hoof resounds like a 

 cymbal as it strikes the ground. 



As we have begun here, let us now proceed 

 to the rest of the body. The bones above 

 the hoofs and belov/ the fetlocks should not 

 be very straight up and down, like the goat's ; 

 for if they have no spring, they jar the rider, 

 and such legs are apt to get inflamed. These 

 bones should not come down very low, either, 

 else the horse might get his fetlocks stripped 

 of hair ^ and torn in riding over heavy ground 

 or over stones. The shank bones ought to 

 be stout, for they are the supporters of the 

 body; but they should not be thickly coated 

 with flesh or veins : if they are, in riding over 

 hard ground the veins would fill with blood 

 and become varicose, the legs would swell, 

 and the flesh recede. With this slackening 



