72 DOMESTIC AINIMALS. 



his time, and sometimes render it difficult or impossible for him to graze, 

 when the state of the animal or the convenience of the owner requires 

 that he should be turned out. 



Curb constitutes unsoundness while it lasts, and perhaps while the 

 swelling remains, although the inflammation may have subsided; for a 

 horse that has once thrown out a curb is, for a while at least, very liable 

 to do so again, to get lame in the same place on the slightest extra ex- 

 ertion ; or, at all events, he would there first fail on extraordinary exer- 

 tion. A horse, however, is not returnable, although he should spring a 

 curb five minutes after the purchase; for it is done in a moment, and 

 does not necessarily indicate any previous unsoundness or weakness of 

 the part. 



Cutting, as rendering a horse liable to serious injury of the legs, and 

 indicating that he is either weak, or has an awkwardness of gait incon- 

 sistent with safety, produces, rather than this, unsoundness. Many 

 horses go lame for a considerable period after cutting themselves severe- 

 ly ; and others have dropped from the sudden agony, and endangered 

 themselves and their riders. As some doubt, however, exists on this 

 subject, and as it is a very material objection to a horse, cutting, when 

 evident, should have its serious consequences provided against by a spe- 

 cial warranty. 



Enlarged Glands. — The enlargement of the glands under the jaw has 

 not been so much considered as it ought to have been in our estimate 

 of the soundness of the horse. Simple catarrh will occasionally, and 

 severe affection of the chest will generally, be accompanied by swelling 

 of these glands, which does not subside for a considerable time after the 

 cold or fever has apparently been cured. To slight enlargements of the 

 glands under the jaw much attention need not be paid; but if they are 

 of considerable size, and especially if they are tender, and the glands at 

 the root of the ear partake of the enlargement, and the membrane of 

 the nose is redder than it should be, w^e should hesitate in pronouncing 

 that horse to be sound. We must consider the swelling as a symptom 

 of disease. 



Enlarged Hock. — A horse with enlarged hock is unsound, the structure 

 of this complicated joint being so materially affected that, although 

 the horse may appear for a considerable time to be capable of ordinary 

 work, he will occasionally fail even in that, and a few days' hard work 

 will always lame him. 



The Eyes. — That inflammation of the eye of the horse which usually 

 terminates in blindness of one or both eyes, has the peculiar character 

 of receding or disappearing for a time, once or twice, or thrice, before 

 it fully runs its course. The eye, after an attack of inflammation, re- 

 gains so nearly its former natural brilliancy, that a person even well ac- 

 quainted with horses will not always recognize the traces of former dis- 

 ease. After a time, however, the inflammation returns, and the result 

 is inevitable. A horse that has had one attack of this complaint is long 

 afterward unsound, however perfect the eye may seem to be, because he 

 carries about with him a disease that will probably again break out, and 

 eventually destroy the sight. Whether, therefore, he may be rejected 

 or not depends on the possibility of proving an attack of inflammation 



