212 ELEMENTS OF HIPPOLOGY. 



CHAPTER XX. 



JUDGING HORSES AND THE EXAMINATION 

 FOR SOUNDNESS. 



In the pages that precede an effort has been made to indi- 

 cate the general conformation of well-built horses, and those 

 diseases and defects to which they are most liable. The appli- 

 cation of the theory of what suitable conformation and sound- 

 ness are will come when the student is called on to purchase 

 a horse for himself. 



The general public is suspicious of horse-dealers, more be- 

 cause of its ignorance of the physical and civil laws that relate 

 to the soundness of horses than for any other reason. For that 

 reason a brief investigation into the subject will spare the 

 purchaser much annoyance and mortification. 



The law of warranty has been briefly stated in the opening 

 chapter, page 19. Reference to that will convince the reader 

 that the examination of the horse he is going to buy and his trial 

 had best be very thorough and complete, as it will prove a very 

 difficult matter to establish the existence of any unsoundness 

 or defect prior to the date of purchase, in a legal manner, to the 

 satisfaction of a court. 



A purchaser must not expect to find many perfect horses; 

 there are few such, and, excepting young horses, the very fact 

 of their being without blemishes argues that they possess some 

 undesirable quality that has limited their use, and that will 

 probably always limit it. | He can, however, learn to recognize 

 those^glaring defects that make horses especially undesirable to 

 own, and to discriminate between them and lesser defects Jbhat 

 can bejDvercome, or that will not interfere with the use to which 

 the horse is to be put. 



