62 THE HORSE. 



foot, but mt necessarily constituting unsoundness; it requires, Iiowever, a 

 most carelul exanriination on the part of the purchaser or veterinary surcjeon 

 to ascertain that tliere is no heat about the quarter, or ossification of the 

 cartilage ; that the frog, although diminished in size, is not diseased ; that 

 the horse does not step short and go as if the foot were tender, and that 

 there is not the slightest trace of lameness. Unless these circumstances, 

 or some of them, are detected, a horse must not be pronounced to be unsound 

 Decause his feet are contracted, for many horses with strangely contracted, 

 feet, are never lame: a special warranty, however, should be required 

 where the feet are at all contracted. 



Corns manifestly constitute unsoundness. The portion of the foot in 

 which they are situated will not bear the ordinary pressure of the shoe; 

 and any accidental additional pressure from the growing down of the horn, 

 or the- introduction of dirt or gravel, will cause serious lameness. They 

 render it necessary to wear a thick and heavy shoe, or a bar shoe, to 

 protect the weakened and diseased part ; and corns are very seldom radi- 

 cally cured. 



Cough. — This is a disease, and consequently unsoundness. Howevei 

 slight may be its degree, and of whatever short standing it is, although it 

 may sometimes seem scarcely to interfere with the usefulness of the horse, 

 a change of stabling, or slight exposure to wet and cold, or the least over- 

 exertion, may at other times cause it to degenerate into many dangerous 

 complaints. A horse, therefore, should never be purchased with a cough 

 upon him without an especial warranty ; or if, the cough not being observed, 

 he is purchased under a general warranty, he may be returned as soon as 

 it is discovered. 



Roaring, Wheezing, Whistling, High-blowing, and Grunting, being 

 the result of alteration of structure or disease in some of the air passages, 

 and interfering with the perfect freedom of breathing, and especially 

 when the horse is put on his speed, without doubt constitute unsound- 

 ness. There are decisions to the contrary, which are now universally 

 admitted to be erroneous. Broken-wind may be regarded as still more 

 decidedly unsoundness. 



Crib-biting. — Although there is some difference of opinion among vete- 

 rinary surgeons on this point, crib-biting must be regarded as unsoundness. 

 This unnatural sucking in of the air, must be to a certain degree injurious 

 to digestion, must dispose to colic, and so interfere with the strength, and 

 usefulness, and health of the horse. Some crib-biters are good goers, but 

 they would have probably possessed more endurance had they not acquired 

 this habit; and it is a fact well established, that as soon as a horse begins 

 to become a crib-biter, he, in more than nine cases out of ten, begins to lose 

 condition. He is not, to the experienced eye, the horse he was before. It 

 may not lead on to absolute disease, or it may rarely do so to any consider- 

 able degree; but a horse that is deficient in condition, must, to that extent, 

 have his capability for extraordinary work diminished, although not so as 

 often to be apparent in ordinary work, and so far, the horse is unsound. 

 Were there no other consideration, the wear of the front teeth, and even 

 the frequent breaking of them, make a horse old before his time, and 

 sometimes render it difficult or almost impossible for him to graze, when 

 the state of the animal or the convenience of the owner require that he 

 should be turned out. 



Curb constitutes unsoundness while it lasts, and perhaps while the swell- 

 ing remains, although the inflammation may have subsided ; for a horse 

 hat has once thrown out a curb, is, for a while at least, very liable lo do so 

 »^{aln on the slightest extra exertion. A horse, however, is not returnabi« 



