74: DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 



fering with the natural expansion of the foot, and, in horses of quick 

 work, ahnost universally producing lameness. 



Plimiced-Foot. — AVhen the union between the horny and sensible 

 laminae, or little plates of the foot is weakened, and the coffin-bone is 

 let down, and presses upon the sole, and the sole yields to this unnat- 

 ural weight, and becomes rounded, and is brought in contact with the 

 ground, and is bruised and injured, that horse must be unsound, and 

 unsound forever, because there are no means by which we can raise the 

 coffin-bone again into its place. 



Quidding. — If the mastication of the food gives pain to the animal, in 

 consequence of soreness of the mouth or throat, he will drop it before 

 it is perfectly chewed. This, as an indication of disease, constitutes 

 unsoundness. Quidding sometimes arises from irregularity in the teeth, 

 which wound the cheek with their sharp edges; or a protruding tooth 

 renders it impossible for the horse to close his jaws so as to chew his 

 food thoroughly. Quidding is unsoundness for the time; but the un- 

 soundness will cease when the teeth are properly filed, or the soreness 

 or other cause of the imperfect chewing removed. 



Quitter is manifestly unsoundness. 



Ring-Bone. — Although when the bony tumor is small, and on one side 

 only, there is little or no lameness — and there are a few instances in 

 which a horse with ring-bone has worked for many years without its re- 

 turn — yet from the action of the foot, and the stress upon the part, the 

 inflammation and the formation of bone may acquire a tendency to 

 spread so rapidly, that we must pronounce the slightest enlargement of 

 the pasterns, or around the coronet, to be a cause of unsoundness. 



Sand-Crack is manifestly unsoundness. It may, however, occur with- 

 out the slightest warning, and no horse can be rejected on account of a 

 sand-crack that has sprung after purchase. Its usual cause is too great 

 brittleness of the crust of the hoof; but there is no infallible method 

 of detecting this, or the degree in which it must exist in order to con- 

 stitute unsoundness. When the horn round the bottom of the foot has 

 chipped oflf so much that only a skillful smith can fasten the shoe with- 

 out pricking the horse, or even when there is a tendency in the horn 

 to chip and break in a much less degree than this, the horse is unsound, 

 for the brittleness of the crust is a disease of the part, or it is such an 

 altered structure of it as to interfere materially with the usefulness of 

 the animal. 



Spavin. — Bone spavin, comprehending in its largest sense every bony 

 tumor on the hock, is not necessarily unsoundness. If the tumor aflTccts 

 in the slightest degree the action of the horse, it is unsoundness ; — even 

 if it does not, it is seldom safe to pronounce it otherwise than unsound- 

 ness. But it may possibly be (like splint in the fore-leg) so situated as 

 to have no tendency to affect the action. A veterinary surgeon con- 

 sulted on the purchase will not always reject a horse because of such a 

 tumor, llis evidence on a question of soundness will depend on the 

 facts. The situation and history of the tumor may be such as to ena- 

 ble him to give a decisive opinion in a horse going sound, but not 

 often. 



Bog or Blood Spavin is unsoundness, because, although it may not be 



