UNSOUNDNESS. 



36 



insinuated itself there, or a wound on any otlier part of the sole. For the 

 hackney and hunter, stopping is indispensable. After several days' hard 

 work, it will afford very great relief to take the shoes off, having put plenty 

 of litter under the horse, or to turn him, if possible, into a loose box ; and 

 the slioes of every horse, whether hardly worked or not, should be removed 

 or chanfred once a month. 



CHAPTER XXT. 

 ON SOUNDNESS AND THE PURCHASE AND SALE OF HOPvSES. 



There are few sources of greater annoyance, both to the bu3'er and the 

 seller of the horse, tlian disputes with regard to the soundness of the animal. 

 Although, in describing the various parts of the horse, we have glanced at 

 the connection of certain natural conformations, and some alterations of 

 structure, and accidents, and diseases, with the question of soundness and 

 unsoundness, it may not be uninteresting to those for whom our work was 

 designed, if we now bring into one point of view the substance of that 

 which has been scattered over many pages. 



That hoi'se is sound in whom there is no disease, nor any alteration of 

 structure in any part which impairs, or is likely to impair, his natural use- 

 fulness. That horse is unsound that labours under disease, or that has 

 some alteration of structure that does interfere, or is likely to interfere, witii 

 his natural usefulness. The Xerm '■'■natural usefulness'" m\xs\. be borne in 

 mind. One horse may possess great speed, but is soon knocked up; 

 another will work all day, but cannot get beyond a snail's pace: one with 

 a heavy forehead is liable to stumble, and is continually putting to hazard 

 the neck of his rider ; another, with an irritable constitution and a washy 

 make, loses his appetite, and begins to scour if a little extra work is exacted 

 from him. The term unsoundness cannot be applied to either of these; it 

 would be opening far too widely a door to disputation and endless wran- 

 gling. The buyer can discern, or ought to know, whether the form of the 

 horse is that which will render him likely to suit his purpose, and he should 

 try him sufficiently to ascertain his natural strength, endurance, and man- 

 ner of going. Unsoundness, we repeat, has reference only to disease, or 

 to that alteration of structure which is connected with, or will produce dis- 

 ease, and lessen the usefulness of the animal. 



These principles will be best illustrated by a brief consideration of the 

 usual supposed causes of unsoundness. 



Broken-knees certainly do not constitute unsoundness after the wounds 

 are healed, unless they interfere with the action of the joint, for the horse 

 may have fallen from mere accident, or through the fault of the rider; but 

 no person would buy a horse with broken knees until he had thoroughly 

 tried him, and satisfied himself as to his form and action. 



Capped-Hocks may be produced by lying on an unevenly-paved stable 

 with a scanty supply of litter, or by kicking, in neither of which cases 

 would they constitute unsoundness, though in the latter they would be an 

 mdication of vice; but in the majority of instances, they are either the 

 consequence of sprain of the hock, and accompanied by enlargement of it, 

 when they would be unsoundness. A special warranty should always be 

 Taken against capped-hocks. 



Contraction is a considerable deviation from the natural form of th* 



