18 ESSAYS ON HORSE SUBJECTS 



with great faithfulness to their progeny defects 

 in the quahty of the horn of hoofs. Shelly, brit- 

 tle hoofs are strongly predisposed to crack, de- 

 veloping sand and quarter cracks on slight 

 provocation, and giving rise to that very trouble- 

 some inability of being unable to hold the shoes 

 tightly. Brittle hoofs are not necessarily coarse 

 in fibre. Hoofs of coarse fibre lack the density 

 of structure which generally contributes to tough- 

 ness. Undue size of foot, low heels and flat soles, 

 with a tendency to be easily bruised, are apt to 

 be associated with a lack of quality in the horn 

 structure. A horse with bone of a spongy char- 

 acter or lacking in density is deficient in quality. 

 Such an individual is predisposed to inflamma- 

 tory diseases of bone, such as splints, sore shins, 

 ringbone and spavin. The lack of quality in a 

 horse is particularly well shown in the skin of 

 his legs. The tendency to the development of 

 cracked heels, stocked legs, mud fever and grease 

 is very evident on slight provocation. Sires de- 

 ficient in quality are apt to transmit to their 

 progeny the tendency to what are called soft- 

 legs, in which there is not only the inclination of 

 the skin to swell up from little cause, but wind- 

 galls, puffy sheaths of tendons and boggy hocks 

 are easily induced. If, then, we accept these 

 statements with regard to quality, as it would ap- 

 pear that every practical horseman must, we must 



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