40 EXAMINATION OF HORSES AS TO SOUNDNESS 



upon that limb, in order to relieve the pain occa- 

 sioned by the using of the lame leg. Many 

 amateurs, seeing a horse drop on one leg, imme- 

 diately conclude that the animal is lame in the 

 leg it drops upon, but of course, after a little 

 reflection, it is easil}^ seen that this could not be 

 the case. 



Briisliing. — Care should be taken in noting 

 whether the fetlocks brush as the horse trots 

 along away from you, for brushing, or the knock- 

 ing of one fetlock against the other, is a great 

 evil, and a difficult one to eradicate. Some horses 

 habitually do this, and all the methods of shoeing 

 that can be thouo^ht of are at times of no 

 avail, and there is no help for it but to always 

 let the horse wear a boot, which is, of course, 

 extremely unsightly, to say the least of it. 

 Young and green horses are frequently addicted 

 to this irregularity of gait, as are also weak, 

 weedy, and leggy animals. A horse that brushes 

 badly is an unsound animal, and should be cast 

 as such, for the continual knocking of the fetlocks 

 injures these joints to such an extent that 

 bony matter is often thrown out, and an enlarged 



