The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1911-09-07
HOW TO BUY A HORSE
Practical Hints on Selecting
A Useful Animal.

The first things always to consider
In horse are his feet and legs, for IL
is clear that even II he were abso-
lutely perfect In other respects he
would be Of little value II anything
were the matter with his feet or legs,
J says David Buffum In the Saturday
Evening Post His feet should be sym
metrical in shape and neither too deep
nor too fiat. for the too deep foot Is
more liable to become contracted, and
the fat foot always gives trouble on
hard roads. or these two defects,
however. the dat foot Is the worse.
The limbs should be clean-that Is.
free from aeshiness they should
have plenty OF bone and substance.
The fore legs should he long from the
horses body down to the knee and
| short from the knee to the fetlock
Joint II Is well TO remember that
this point Is an exceedingly important
one in a road horse.
The hind legs should be both clean
and fiat. A round leg is always to he
avoided. and II cannot be too clean.
II II looks ~ II thckkin 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. II Is true. many
good draft horses that ue rather hairy
limbcd. but the feature adds nothing
90 their value aud In a road horse
would be intOlerable. The gambrel
ioint should be strong and well devel-
oped. and II IN better that II be rel
atively near the ground. though this
Is not as important as I'm the case OF
the fore knee
Unsoundnesses OF the limbs, such as
spayins. 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 II would he well TO study them
further by examining some horse that
Is known 10 have them. A SPAWN Is
n bony enlargement on the inside OF
the gambrel Joint.
A ringbone-worst OF all defects OF
this character though all are bad
enough Is bony enlargement run
ming around the ankle between the
hoof and the fetlock joint. Spllnts are
small bony engagements on the inside
Of the fore leg between the knee and
the fetlock joint. They rarely do much
harm unless unduly large or situated
too near the knee The horse should
stand sqnarely upon his legs. His feet
should he 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 well developed. with the hip
Joints fairly well forward. The hind
quarters are most elegant when the
line from the top Of the hips TO the
root Of the tail Il only moderately
oblidue-neither too straight nor too
dropping. The straightness or obliq-
uity OF this line does not seem to ar
feet the horses usefulness very much.
but the degree I have mentioned Is
one OF the points 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 hip
bone should be short. Horses that are
deficient In this respect are hard keep
ers and. as a rule. less satisfactory
generally than those that are more
compactly put together The shout
ders should he slanting. This con-
formation makes shoulder that In
both strong and elegant An upright
shoulder l. bad thing and always to
be avoided. The chest should be deep.
so as to give ample lung capacity.
The neck. so far as its utility goes.
may be either short or long. but the
latter is more elegant. II should not
be heshy nor "beefy." and at a point
little aft OF where II Joins the head
II should be bent a little. This con-
formation leaves the windpipe curved
instead OF bent at an angle and so
gives the breathing apparatus freer
play.
The head on high bred horses Ia
rather small and very clean and bony:
the cleaner the head the better on
horses OF all kinds. In shape. when
viewed from the front. II should slant
In little from the eyes TO the top;
when viewed from the side the face
line should be straight. not aquiline.
The eyes should be medium In size,
not too near the top Of the head, and
set well apart from each other. The
ears should be fine. pointed and OF
medium length. When pointing for
ward they should be parallel. not
slanting apart.