The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1909-04-01
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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 80 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 TarS of the horse the
buyer looks at is the fore feet, and II
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 United States today
and very little attention is paid to
that point as rule.
The second weakest point is In the
hook joint, and about IL per cent. Of
the draft horses in our large cities are
discarded because of weak, defective
and unsound hook joints These lwo,
the fore feet and the hook joints, are
points whicn we should consider care
fully.
/ Now, what are the weaknesses in
| the feet? We are using in this coun-
/ try more rercherons than we are OF
all other draft breeds together; they
! Nh, hot tA hn a
| 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 a breeding horse. Get a 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 angle of about As degrees, but
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
the heel and deep from coronet tC
ground surface. Get a horse with &
hoof that Is dense, that is, closenes'
of the fbers altogether. You do no
want a hoof in which the fibers are
not laid closely together, giving yol
smooth, hard, bone-like horn. A
hoof that is not smooth on its surface
dense and close fbered, will not holC
the shoe and will wear off very quick
ly II not shod.
When you look at the bottom Of thu
foot, get one that is concave, hollowe'
up in the center and with a good
large, full, well-developed frog. TIL,
frog is one of the most importan
parts of the horses foot, the cushion
which is placed there by Nature u
break the concussion as the horse put
his foot to the ground. Very frequent
ly, as our horses are shod in thi
country, the weight comes all OUTSIDE
on the rim of the foot, which is no
intended to bear all the weight, bu
"a have so shod the horse in man,
instances that the frog Is all draw
up and shriyeled and the sole Is fiat
tened out.