124 THE HORSE. 



thing which is not purely accidental is hereditary. No 

 one, of course, would believe in the transmission of a 

 real accident, such as a fractured bone or a dislocated 

 joint. We must be careful, however, of admitting into 

 the list of accidents such things as spavins, curbs, 

 ringbones, roaring, wind-breaking, &c. These can 

 never properly be considered as accidental, although the 

 excuse is frequently made on their behalf, that they 

 occun-ed from a wrench, stress, fall, or some violent 

 and sudden over-exertion, for which the animal is not 

 to be blamed. For my part, I would never be hood- 

 winked by any excuse of the kind, no matter by whom 

 it may be preferred. I would invariably trust to the 

 horse who goes through all his trials and severe work 

 at all ages, and turns up quite sound at the last. This 

 LS the animal whose form and constitution are to be de- 

 pended on. He can speak for himself, and needs no 

 interested advocate. If two animals are getting the 

 same care, and doing the same amount of work, and 

 one of them bears it without injury, whilst the other 

 breaks up, there surely can be no question that the one 

 is more perfect in his construction than the other. I 

 would listen to no apologies for the bad one. There is 

 a reason in natm^e for his going astray ; and it makes 

 little difference whether that reason depends on softness 

 of constitution, defective structure, or imperfection of 

 form. It is somewhere in the organization, and is sure 

 to be hereditary. Some diseases are so trivial in their 



