The new era., 1909-04-15
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DRAFT HORSES.
Tendency to Defective Fore Feet is a
Great Weakness.

think the weakest point in our
draft horses to-day is defective fore
feet. AS nearly as can estimate from
the Investigations made III the second
hand sale stables in Chicago. where
fully so per cent. of the draft horses
that are used upon that city's streets
are thrown aside, at least rs per cent
of the draft horses are rendered use
less after few years service because
OF lameness. the seat of which Is in
the fore feet.
You go onto the market in Chicago
with a bunch of god draft horses for
sale. the first rart of the horse the
buyer looks at is the fore feet, and if
they are not sound and right, the price
is Immediately cut down.
The fore feet are the most impor-
: tant part of the horse from the users
standpoint in the Unitel States to-day.
and very little attention is paid to
that point as a rule.
The second weakest point is in the
hook joint. and about 12 per cent of
the draft horses in our large cities are
discarded because of weak, defective
and unsouRd hook joints. These ,wo,
the fore feet and the hook joints. are
points which we should consider care
fully.
Now, what are the weaknesses in
the feet? We are using in this coun-
try more Fercherons than we are of
all other draft breeds together; they
are the breed that seems to be the
best suited to our American people.
and the Percheron horses fore feet is
perhaps his weakest point. Many of
them are too small; not small perhaps
at the surface of the ground but small
where the hoof and the hair JON at
the hoof-head or coronet. This Is the
particular part of your Percheron
horses fot. which you should ex-
anime carefully In looking for weak
ness in breeding horse. Get good
large hoof-head. with plenty of depth
and width In hOof at the heel then see
that the pastern or ankle blends nice
ly into the hoof. The ankle from the
fetlock joint down to the foot in the
Percheron is frequently very short
and very straight. and if long, sets
too far back. Pasterns should have
an angie Vi dDOul To ue6iCSS, oue
should be clean and smooth and show
lots of quality of fiber and give full.
nice. round blending of the bone and
sinew into the hoof. Now. then, the
foot itself Get foot that is wide in
Ihe heel and deep from coronet to
ground surface. Get a horse with a
hoof that is dense. that is, closeness
of the fibers altogether. You do not
want a hoof in which the fibers are
not laid closely together. giving you
a smooth, hard. bone-like horn. A
hoof that is not smooth on its surface.
dense and close fibered, will not hold
the shoe and will wear off very quick
ly If not shod.
When you look at the bottom OF The
foot, get one that is concave, followed
up in the center and with good,
large, full well-developed frog. The
frog is one of the most important
parts of the horses foot, the cushion
which is placed there by Nature to
break the concussion as the horse puts
his foot to the ground. Very frequent
ly. as our horses are shod In this
country, the weight comes all outside
on the rim of the foot. which Is not
intended to bear all the weight, but
we have SO shod the horse in many
instances that the frog is all drawn
IN and shriveled and the sole is Hat
tened out.