XVIU PREFACE. 



stances, and yet not be positively lame, al- 

 though his motion may, therel^y, be less firm 

 and elastic. The joints may also be puffed 

 with windgalls, and yet the horse shall not 

 betray signs of lameness. On the other 

 hanel, cases often occur where lameness is 

 produced from both the above causes, and 

 yet if all horses with narrow feet and puffed 

 joints were to be rejected as unsound, three- 

 fourths of the produce of the kingdom 

 would come under that denomination. 



It would certainly be unreasonable to 

 estimate the standard of soundness by the 

 standard of perfection, for a horse may be 

 perfectly sound, and yet a bad mover, and 

 hable to stumble. Also, by having a less 

 capacious chest, and smaller lungs, he may 

 not be so good-winded as another, yet this 

 circumstance cannot constitute unsound- 

 ness. The eyes also vary considerably in 

 tlieir natural formation, some being smaller 

 than others. Horses with small eyes are 

 generally sh}^ and slartlish, from being near- 

 sio;hted, on account of the tlatness of the 

 cornea or outward surface of the eye : still 

 no disease may exist in the eye at the time 

 of sale, although eyes of this description 

 are justly considered as more liable to blind- 



