There's an old rule that says:

[fastg45]

"One white foot, buy him,"
"two white feet, try him,"
"three white feet, be on the sly,"
"four white feet, pass him by."

Quote from the movie "True Grit"

[Maureen]

Unless, of course, you are breeding "coloured TBs", then you will surely want to take the 4 white feet!

[ragsdaj1]

Just watched that movie the other day.

Here is another version for you.

"Thinking back, in his early years, a friend was kind enough to remind me of the ditty:

One white sock buy,
two white socks try,
three white socks pass him buy,
four white socks and a white nose, throw him to the crows."

JonR

[yukidragon]

Secretariat

[haemju]

Now thinking back to my 4H days i remember the old saying as follows:

One sock, buy him
Two socks, try him
Three socks, look well about him
Four socks, do without him
Needless to say, my herd all have one or two socks but, that's just the way it happened. Now, what if they don't have any socks?

[aurora]

Here's the way I heard it:

"One white foot, buy him,"
"two white feet, try him,"
"three white feet, look about him,"
"four white feet, do without him."

[Shammy Davis]

Cute jiggle, but it is bull.

[HeidiH]

I knew this one as:

"One white foot, buy him.
Two white feet, try him.
Three white feet, eye him.
Four white feet, deny him."

I also heard:

"One white foot, buy him.
Two white feet, try him.
Three white feet, maybe another day.
Four white feet, send him far away."

[fastg45]

Secretariat 8)

In Secretariat's case I think it should say:

"One white foot, buy him,"
"two white feet, try him,"
"three white feet, be on the sly,"
"four white feet, meant to fly."

[wilf]

I am glad that Vincent O Brien ignored that nonsense when he bought a smallish colt at Keeneland in 1975, later named the Minstrel.