UNSOUNDNESS. 395 



of lameness at slow work, the rapid and powerful action of the hock in quicker motion 

 will produce permanent, yet perhaps not considerable lameness, which can scarcely 

 ever be with certainty removed. 



Splint. — It depends entirely on the situation of the bony tumour on the shank-bone, 

 whether it is to be considered as unsoundness. If it is not in the neighbourhood of 

 any joint, so as to interfere with its action, and if it does not press upon any ligament 

 or tendon, it may be no cause of unsoundness, although it is often very unsightly. 

 In many cases it may not lessen the capability and value of the animal. This has 

 been treated on at considerable length in page 268. 



Stringhalt. — ^This singular and very unpleasant action of the hind legis decided- 

 ly an unsoundness. It is an irregular counnunication of nervous energy to some 

 muscle of the thigh, observable when the horse first comes from the stable, and gra- 

 dually ceasing on exercise. It has usually been accompanied by a more than com- 

 mon degree of strength and endurance. It must, however, be traced to some morbid 

 alteration of structure or function ; and it rarely or never fails to deteriorate and gra- 

 dually wear out the animal. 



• Thickening of the Back Sinews. — Sufficient attention is not always paid to the 

 fineness of the legs of the horse. If the flexor tendons have been sprained, so as to 

 produce considerable thickening of the cellular substance in which their sheaths are 

 enveloped, they will long afterwards, or perhaps always, be liable to sprain, from 

 causes by which they would otherwise be scarcely affected. The continuance of any 

 considerable thickness around the sheaths of the tendons indicates previous and vio- 

 lent sprain. This very thickening will fetter the action of the tendons, and, after 

 much quick work, will occasionally renew the inflammation and the lameness; there- 

 fore, such a horse cannot be sound. It requires, however, a little discrimination to 

 distinguish this from the gumminess or roundness of leg, peculiar to some breeds. 

 There should be an evident difference between the injured leg and the other. 



Thoroughpin, except it is of great size, is rarely productive of lameness, and there- 

 fore cannot be termed unsoundness ; but as it is the consequence of hard work, and 

 now and then does produce lameness, the hock should be most carefully examined, 

 and there should be a special warranty against it. 



Thrush. — There are various cases on record of actions on account of thrushes in 

 horses, and the decisions have been much at variance, or perfectly contradictory. 

 Thrush has not been always considered by legal men as unsoundness. We, how- 

 ever, decidedly so consider it; as being a disease interfering and likely to interfere 

 with the usefulness of the horse. Thrush is inflammation of the lower surface of the 

 inner or sensible frog — and the secretion or throwing out of pus — almost invariably 

 accompanied by a slight degree of tenderness of the frog itself, or of the heel a little 

 above it, and, if neglected, leading to diminution of the substance of the frog, and 

 separation of the horn from parts beneath, and underrunning, and the production of 

 funorus and canker, and, ultimately, a diseased state of the foot, destructive of the 

 present, and dangerous to the future usefulness of the horse. 



Windgalls. — There are few horses perfectly free from windgalls, but they do not 

 interfere with the action of the fetlock, or cause lameness, except when they are nu- 

 merous or large. They constitute unsoundness only when they cause lameness, or 

 are so large and numerous as to render it likely that they will cause it. 



In the purchase of a horse the buyer usually receives, embodied in the receipt, 

 ■what is termed a warranty. It should be thus expressed :— 



" Received of A. B. forty pounds for a grey mare, warranted only five years old, sound, 

 free from vice, and quiet to ride and drive. 



"£40. "CD." 



A receipt, including merely the word "warranted," extends only to soundness, — 

 warranted sound" goes no farther; the age, freedom from vice, and quietness to 

 ifde and drive, should be especially named. This warranty comprises every cause 

 of unsoundness that can be detected, or that lurks in the constitution at the time of 

 sale, and to every vicious habit that the animal has hitherto shown. To establish a 

 breach of the warranty, and to be enabled to tender a return of the horse and recover 

 the difference of price, the purchaser must prove that it was unsound or viciously dis- 

 posed at the time of sale. In case of cough, the horse must have been heard to cough 

 immediately after the purchase, or as he was led home, or as soon as he had entered 



