PURCHASE AND SALE OF HORSES. 523 



thickness aroiind the sheaths of the tendons indicates previous and violent 

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

 after much quick work, will occasionally renew the inflammation and the 

 lameness ; therefore, such a horse cannot be sound. It requires, however, 

 a little discrimination to distinguish this from the gumminess, or roundness 

 of leg, pecuHar to some breeds. There should be an evident difecrence 

 between the injured leg and the other. _ 



Thoeoughpin, except it is of gi-eat size, and attended with lameness, can 

 hardly 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, aud 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 per- 

 fectly contradictory. Thimsh haS not been always considered by legal 

 men as unsoundness. We, however, decidedly so consider it ; as bemg a 

 disease interfering and likely to interfere with the usefuhaess of the horse. 

 Thrush is inflammation of the lower surface of the inner or sensitive frog 

 —and the secretion or throwing out of pus— almost invariably accom- 

 panied by a sHght degree of tenderness of the frog itself, or of the heel a 

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

 the froo-, and separation of the horn from the parts beneath, the pro- 

 duction^'of fungus and canker, and, ultimately, a diseased state of the foot, 

 destructive of the present, and dangerous to the fature usefulness of the 



ll01*SG. 



WiNDGALLS —There are few horses perfectly free from windgalls, but 

 they do not interfere with the action of the fetlock, or cause lameness, 

 except Avhen they are numerous 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. ^ •, t ■, • .i 



. In the purchase of a horse the buyer usually receives, embodied m the 

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



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

 lr€e from vice, and quiet to ride and drive. ^ 



'£40. '^•^• 



A receipt including merely the word 'warranted,' extends only to 

 soundness,—' warranted sound ' goes no farther ; the age, freedom from 

 vice and quietness to ride and drive, should be especiaUy 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 difi"erence of price, the purchaser must prove that it was unsound or 

 viciously disposed 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 the stable of the purchaser. Coughing, 

 even 'on the following morning, will not be sufl&cient; for it is possible 

 that he might have caught cold by change of stabhng. If he is lame, it 

 must be proved to arise from a cause that existed before the animal was 

 in the purchaser's possession. No price will imply a warranty, or be 

 equivalent to one ; there must be an express warranty. A fraud must be 

 proved in the seller, in order that the buyer may be enabled to retui-n the 

 horse or maintain an action for the price. The warranty should be given 

 at the time of sale. A warranty, or a promise to warrant the horse given 

 at anv period antecedent to the sale, is invalid; for horseflesh is a very 

 perishable commoditv, aud the constitution and usefulness of the ammal 



