Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1911-02-15
HOW 70 BUY A HORSE.
Practical Hints on Selecting Animal
That Will Be Useful.

The first things always TO consider
II a horse are his feet and legs. for it
IS clear that even If he were abso-
iitely perfect in other respects he
would be of little value if anything
were the matter with his feet or legs,
SAYS David Buffum in the Saturday
Evening Post His feet should be SYM
b,etricai in shape and neither too deep
nor too fat. for the too deep foot IS
more liable to become contracted. and
the fat foot always gives trouble on
hard roads Of these two defects,
however, the fiat foot is the worse.
The limbs should be clean-that is,
free from f1eshiness-and they should
have plenty of bone and substance.
The fore legs should be long from the
horses body down to the knee and
| short from the knee to the fetlock
Joint 1t is we'll to remember that
this point is an exceedingly important
one in a road horse.
The hind legs should be both clean
and fat A round leg is always to be
avoided. and it cannot be too clean.
If it looks as if the skin had been re-
moved. the bone scraped and the skin
then put back again. so much the
better. but limbs as clean as this are
found only on high bred horses and
are not to be expected in cold blooded
or draft stock.
Much hair on the limb is also to be
avoided There are. it is true. many
good draft horses that are rather hairy
limbed. but the feature adds nothing
to their value and in a road horse
would be intoleTable. The gambrei
Joint Should be strong and well devel---
oped. and it is better that it be rel
atiyely near the ground. though this
is not as important as in the case of
the fore knee.
TnsoundnesSeS OF the limbs, such as
sravins. ringboneS and the like are not
much to be feared in buying new"
horses. but should always be looked
for They are very easily described.
but it would be we'll to study them
furt Ter BY examining some horse that
IS known to have them. A SPAWN is
b0nv enlargement on the inside Of
the gamb"el joint.
4 ringbonp-worst Of all defects OF
this character though all are bad
> ! en0UgIl-is a hOny enlargement run
ming around the ankle between the
hOof and the fetIock joint. Splints are
small bony engagements on the inside
of the fore leg between the knee and
the fetlock joint. They rarely do much
+ harm unless unduiy large or situated
roo near the knee. The horse should
stand snuareiy upon his legs. His feet
should be well under him. not sprawl
: ed apart and his hoofs should be
straight fore and aft. neither toeing
:. in nor out.
We now come to the body. The back
should be short. The hind quarters
should be we'll developed. with the hip
Joints fairly we'll forward. The hind
quarters are-most elegant when the
line from the top OF the hips to the
root of the tail is only moderately
oblfque-neither too straight nor too
dropping. The straightness or obliq-
uify- of this line does not seem to at
feet the horses usefuTnes very much
but Nthe degree I have mentioned is
one Ct the noints of equine perfection
and as SUCH should receive considera
ton whenever possible.
The body should be nicely rounded
and well ribbed up'-that is the
space between the ribs and the hiI
bone should be short. Horses that arr
: deficient in this respect are hard keep
ers and. as a rule. less satisfactory
:: generally than those. that are more
IL cOmpactIy put together. The shout
ders should be slanting. This con
formation makes a shoulder that i
both strong and elegant. An uprigh
shoulder is 81 bad thing and always t
be avoided The chest should be deer
so as to give ample lung capacity.
The neck. so far as its utility goes
may be either short or long. but tn
Mt latter is more elegant. 1t should no
ia be fleShy nor 'beefy." and at a pOin
a little aft of where it joins the hea
it should he bent little. This cor
formation leaves the windpipe curve
instead of bent at an angle and S
gives the breathing apparatus free
play.
ut The head on high bred horses
rather small and very clean and bon!
the cleaner the head the better 0
horses of all kinds. In shape, whe
- viewed from the front, it should Slar
in a little from the eyes to the toy
when viewed from the side the fac
Is line should be straight, not aquilin
The eyes should be medium in siZ
not too near the top of the head, an
set we'll apart from each other. TT
ON ears should be fine, pointed and {
medium length. When pointing TO
ward they should be parallel, nj
slanting apart.