PURCHASE AND SALE OF HORSES. 51t> 



corns will disappear on the horse being shod with ordinary skill and care, 

 even without any alteration in the shoe. 



Cough. — This is a disease, and consequently unsoundness. However 

 slight may be its degree, and of whatever short standing it may be, although 

 it may sometimes scarcely seem to interfere with the usefalness of the 

 horse, yet a change of stabhng, or slight exposure to wet and cold, or the 

 least over-exertion, may, at other times, cause it io degenerate into many 

 dangerous complaints. A horse, therefore, should never be purchased with 

 a cough upon him, without a special warranty ; or if — the cough not being 

 observed — he is purchased under a general warranty, that warranty is 

 thereby broken. It is not law, that a horse may be retui'ned on breach of 

 i he warranty. The seller is not bound to take him back, unless he has 

 contracted so to do ; but he is Hable in damages. Lord EUenborough has 

 completely decided this matter. ' I have always held,' said he, ' that a 

 warranty of soundness is broken, if the animal, at the time of sale, had any 

 infirmity upon him that i»endered him less fit fbr present service. It is not 

 necessary that £he disorder should be permanent or incurable. While he 

 has a cough, he is unsound, although that may either be temporary or 

 prove mortal.' In deciding on another case, the same judge said : ' I have 

 always held it that a cough is a breach of the warranty. On that ujuder- 

 standing I have always acted, and think it quite clear.' It was argued on 

 the other hand that two-thirds of the horses in London had coughs, yet still 

 the judge maintained that the cough was a breach of warranty. 



Roaring, Wheezing, Whistling, being the result of alteration of struc- 

 ture, or disease in some of the air-passages, and interfering with the 

 perfect freedom of breathing, especially when the horse is put on his 

 speed, without doubt constitute unsoundness. There are decisions to the 

 contrary, which are now universally admitted to be erroneous. Broken 

 Wind is still more decidedly unsoundness. 



Crib-biting. ^Although some learned judges have asserted that crib- 

 biting is simply a trick or bad habit, it must be regarded as unsoundness. 

 This unnatural sucking in of the air must to a certain degree injure diges- 

 tion. It must dispose to colic, and so interfere with the strength, and 

 usefulness, and health of the horse. Some crib-biters are good goers, but 

 they probably would have possessed moi^e endurance had they not acquired 

 this habit ; and it is a fact well established, that, as soon as a horse becomes 

 a crib-biter he, in nine cases out of ten, loses condition. He is not to the 

 experienced eye the horse he was before. It may not lead on to strongly 

 marked disease, or it may rarely do so to any considerable degree ; but a 

 horse that is morbidly deficient in condition must, to that extent, have his 

 capability for extraordinary work diminished, and so be brought within 

 our definition of unsoundness. In its very early stage, it may be a mere 

 trick — confirmed, it must have produced morbid deterioration. The wear 

 of the front teeth, and the occasional breaking of them, make a horse old 

 before his time, and sometimes render it difficult or almost impossible for 

 him to graze, when the state of the animal or the convenience of the 

 owner requires that he should be turned out. 



Curb constitutes unsoundness while it lasts, and perhaps while the 

 swelling remains, although the inflammation may have subsided ; for a 

 horse that has once thrown out a curb is, for a while at least, very liable 

 to do so again, to get lame in the same place on the slightest extra exer- 

 tion ; or, at all events, he would there first fail on extraordinary exertion. 

 A horse, however, is not returnable, although he should spring a cui'b five 

 minutes after the pui-chase ; for it is done in a moment, and does not 

 necessarily indicate any previous unsoundness or weakness of the part. 



Cutting renders a horse liable to serious injury of the legs, and indicates 



