SELECTING THE HORSE. 



19 



in a healthy hoof. It is a suspicious circumstance if these are filed 

 off and the hoof made smooth. The fact is, nothing is a surer index 

 of previous good health than the hoof. If a horse has a fit of sick- 

 ness the hoofs cease growing, and when they begin again with 

 returning health they all show a ridge ; so if from any cause one 

 foot is affected by fever, or a wound, it alone wiU show it almost 

 certainly by increased or decreased growth, as the case may be. 



Fig. 22.— COW-HOCKED. 



Fig. 23. — ^BOW LEGS. 



The joints are large, hard, bony, and free from meat or puffs. 

 Below the hocks and knees the bone of the leg is flat, and of good 

 size for the weight of the animal ; ■ the cords are hard as bone, free 

 from muscle, and the skin free from scars and drawn tightly over 

 the whole. Avoid slender pasterns. The pastern bones and those 

 forming the pedal joint should have aU the breadth and solidity 

 possible. The muscular portion of the legs — the fore arms and 

 thighs — should be large and even, and the muscles should stand out 

 individually distinct and hard." 



Unsoundness and Blemishes. — It is impossible to detect with 

 certainty all the diseases and various forms of unsoundness to which 

 a horse is liable. Unsoundness has been judicially defined as "an 

 infirmity which renders the horse less fit for immediate use than he 

 Otherwise would be, and less able to perform the proper and ordinary 



