208 THE PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING 



possible, within certain limits, to so shape a colt's foot as to 

 induce correction of some defect in the position of the legs which 

 existed at birth. For example, the horse which stands toe mde, 

 nigger heeled, or splay footed as it is commonly called, ^vi\\ 

 have the inner wall of his foot much shorter and more upright 

 than the outer wall. The condition is probably due primarily 

 to the position of the legs, the foot at birth appearing normal. 

 If, however, the animal had been bom with the legs straight, 

 but for some reason during the first fcAV months of his life the 

 out-er wall of his foot had been allowed to become longer than 

 the inner w^all, this unnatural form of the foot would tend to 

 bring about a toe wide position of the legs which were originally 

 straight Or, if the feet of a toe wide colt had been kept in 

 proper form, they would have influenced the toe wide legs to 

 assume a proper direction. 



Horses become unsound of limb when the wear and tear is 

 not equally distributed, certain parts bearing an undue amount. 

 Equal distribution of weight bearing and other functional activ- 

 ities are possible only when the form of the foot and the direc- 

 tion of the leg are correct. Any deviation from the proper 

 standing position of whatever degree will, in all probability, 

 cause a proportionate overtaxing of certain parts mth its result- 

 ing unsoundness. 



Handling the Foal. — It is much easier to train the young 

 plant or to mold the clay before they are set in some definite 

 form. In tlie same way the young animal, and notably the horse, 

 has fewer ideas of his own, and is more ready to accept the direc- 

 tions of a superior intelligence the younger tliis work is taken up. 



The too common notion that education and work are insepar- 

 able is largely responsible for the fact that so many colts are 

 allow^ed to assert their independence until such time as they are 

 fit to go to work, their general usefulness being in most cases 

 impaired on this account. The horse should be reasonably ma- 

 ture before he is called upon to do. any service, but any time 

 spent on his education prior to the date at which he first goes 

 into commission, as it were, will be repaid many-fold in the moite 

 satisfactory manner in which he performs his service. 



