158 HORSES AND EIDING. 



CHAPTEE XXII. 



COMMON UNSOUNDNESSES. 



I HAVE no intention of making in this work a classi- 

 fication of the various diseases and injuries horses 

 are subject to, and the modes in use of treating. 

 Such a work belongs properly to the veterinary 

 surgeon's department, and not to a work treating only 

 of the management of horses in health, in the stable, 

 the hunting field, and on the road. Many books 

 written about horses are apt to merge into a treatise 

 of this sort, mentioning every complaint as if it was 

 equally common, and giving directions how to cure 

 it. Such a work could only be of use to a profes- 

 sional veterinary surgeon, who most likely knows 

 already more than the book can tell him, or a man 

 who has a large stud of horses, every one of them 

 amiss or unsound, and each horse suffering from a 

 different complaint. I propose, however, to describe 

 a few of the causes of unsoundness which are 

 most commonly met with in purchasing or keeping- 

 horses. There are some unsoundnesses much 



