40 



HINTS ON HORSES 



A horse should stand firmly on his heels. 

 If the heels, or rather what is known as the 

 "frog," is pared away during the operation 

 of shoeing, a fatal fault of the farrier, the 

 horse will not be able to bring the necessary 

 pressure upon it, consequently the frog will 

 gradually contract and wither, and the horse's 

 shoe will become more and more nearly a 

 closed circle. 



If a horse is not shod often enough, the 

 horn or exterior rim of the hoof grows too 

 much, and by degrees perches the foot so 

 high up that the frog is no longer able to 

 touch the ground, and a similar result, to 

 that just described, ensues. 



If a horse has never to go on macadamized 

 or artificially hardened roads, it is often best 

 not to shoe the animal at all ; then the frog 

 is always on the ground, and the horn of the 

 foot wears away naturally. Heavy horses 

 have big feet, thoroughbreds small feet. The 

 feet of underbred horses are larger than those 

 of thoroughbreds. 



A big foot in a hunter is said to be of value 

 in heavy countries ; but, on the other hand, 

 there is the saying that "blood will tell," 



Pasterns. — The pastern may be oblique or 

 upright. 



Wellbred horses have oblique pasterns, 

 which render their action springy. 



Underbred horses have straight pasterns, 

 and their action is rough and inclined to jar. 

 An oblique pastern carried to extremes 

 denotes weakness, as in young underfed 

 stock. 



Fetlocks.— The fore fetlocks, as in the case 

 of the hind legs (see above), show if the horse 

 has done much work, when they are large 

 or "puffy;" this puffiness does not necessarily 

 affect the soundness of the action of the 

 horse. The upper portion is liable to little 

 swellings known as wind galls. 



A horse which has been standing in the 

 stable too long often comes out with big 

 fetlocks, but after a little exercise the joint 

 assumes its normal dimensions. 



A hunter the morning after a long day is 

 often rather swollen about the fetlocks ; in 

 its case also exercise reduces the swellings. 



Canon bone or shank. — A horse's canon bone 

 (the bone below the knee) should be like a 

 barod, narrow when seen from the front, wide 



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