174 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



curable, should be an insuperable bar to purchase. You can never patci> 

 up a bad foot. Therefore be sure you always try the intended purchase 

 aa a hard road. Many game horses, dead lame on hard roads, will get 

 along without much flinching on soft roads, or the turf. If you are 

 certain as to the cause of the lameness and know you can cure it, the 

 purchase, as a speculation, may do; but never rely on "the assurance of 

 the horse dealer. It is his business to sell. 



Never buy a narrow chested horse for hard service. It shows weak 

 lungs and those liable to inflammation. If for saddle, avoid a very broad 

 chested horse, though as trotters they are sometimes fast. The best and 

 most perfect chest is a medium between the narrow and broad chest. 



A tucked up washy looking horse should be avoided. They may indeed 

 do for light work or short drives, but arc totally unfit for real work. 



In buying avoid all defects in the wind ; be sure the disability has not 

 been temporarily covered up, by special means known to horse dealers. 

 A whistler or roarer may show no indication of his infirmity at a slow 

 pace, or up to a certain speed. Beyond that it is apparent. Broken 

 wind is an incurable infirmity and probably as distressing to the horse as 

 the asthma is to man. A horse may make more or less noise and yet not 

 have broken wind. Any indication of this, however, is to be looked on 

 with suspicion. 



In buying a horse his points of excellence and infirmity are better 

 ishown if only in fair working condition than when very fat. A horse 

 very fat is pretty nearly a useless creature until his condition has been 

 brought down to that of bone, sinew and muscle, with just sufficient fat 

 to lubricate, so to speak, the working parts. Yet a horse for slow draft 

 may be serviceable and carry far more flesh and fat than one used for 

 fast work. Many superior horses have been ruined by hard driving when 

 fat, or soft, 



n. Color in Helation to Value. 



It is a saying as trite as it is old that any color is good in a good horse. 

 Yet a horse, however good otherwise, should be invariably rejected if his 

 color is bad. For instance, it would essentially mark both an ignorant 

 and vulgar person who would select a piebald, spotted, or otherwise 

 extraordinary color for a carriage horse. It would savor of the rircui* 

 or show ring. 



As saddle horses for gentlemen, self-colors are the best, and those dis- 

 tinct. A star in the forehead and two white feet behind give character. 

 A snip in the face, if large, is objectionable. Four white stockings more 

 M>. Bay, brown and dark chestnut are the preferable colors. If th» 



