What do the number of white socks on a horse mean

Im getting an arabian horse and Id like to know what the white socks mean, is it bad or good to have all 4 socks, what about 3, 2, 1 0??

There used to be an old wives' tale that white socks were bad:

"One white foot, buy him.

"Two white feet try him

"Three white feet, doubt him.

"Four white-feet do without him."

Part of the reason for this is based somewhat on fact, that the hooves of horses that have white feet are somewhat softer than the hooves of horses that have dark feet. This makes the white-footed horse slightly more susceptible to abscesses and cracks and throwing shoes. FWIW, my Arabian had three white feet and he got abscesses in every white foot he had, but never in the dark foot.

Some archaic issues were associated with white-footed horses: if you are trying to match a team of coach horses, it's easier to match a team of horses that don't have showy white feet. In the days when people used horse-drawn vehicles, this was an issue with those who had money enough to sport a coach, phaeton, or fly pulled by a team.

Also, if you had to do the grooming of the horses, it was hard (especially given the state of roads and streets back in the days of horse-drawn vehicles) to keep the white socks on horses looking fresh and white. It made for extra work, which nobody was happy about.

For Arabians, showy white socks that run high up the legs are frowned upon, because Arabs have rules regarding the amount of white markings that are permitted-- how high up on a leg a sock can run. There is legitimate concern among Arab breeders that a horse with high white socks on all four legs may produce or sire foals that have white markings in excess of what's permitted. So Arab breeders would much rather have minimal white markings on their horses, or no white markings at all.