74 



CHAPTER IX. 



The Causes of Unsoundness. 



The Eyes. — It is a most important matter that 

 a horse should have sound sight, but it is hardly 

 within the power of an amateur to be able to tell 

 whether a horse's eyes are sound or not. Almost 

 anyone can detect absolute blindness, but there 

 are so many inappreciable causes for defective 

 sight. It frequently happens that the purchaser 

 of an apparently sound horse finds, much to his 

 sorrow, that the animal is either partially or com- 

 pletely blind when it arrives home. Specks on 

 the transparent portion of the eye may cause 

 partial or complete blindness, so much depending 

 upon their position on the cornea. For instance, 

 if the speck is situated immediately over the centre 

 of the pupil it will be much more likely to cause 

 defective sight than when situated at the margin 

 of the cornea. Supposing the purchaser of a horse 

 had a warranty from the seller that the animal 

 was perfectly sound at the time of sale, but the 



