DEFECTS.] 



THE HORSE. AISTD 



[defects. 



uusoundness after the wounds are liealed, 

 unless they interfere with the action of the 

 joint ; for the horse may have fallen from mere 

 accident, or through the fault of the rider, 

 and received no injury beyond the blemish. 

 No person, however, will buy a horse with 

 broken knees until he has thoroughly tried 

 him, and satisEed himself as to his form and 

 action. 



- Capped HocTcs may be produced by lying on 

 an unevenly paved stable, with a scanty supply 

 of litter, or by the habitual vice of kicking. In 

 neither of these cases, however, would they 

 constitute unsoundness, although in the latter 

 they would be an indication of vice ; but, in the 

 majority of instances, they are the consequence 

 of sprain of the hock ; and, when accompanied 

 by enlargement, constitute uusoundness. A 

 special warranty should always be taken 

 against capped hocks. 



Contraction is a considerable deviation from 

 the natural form of the foot ; but not neces- 

 sarily constituting unsoundness. It requires, 

 however, a most careful examination on tlie 

 part of the purchaser or veterinary surgeon, to 

 ascertain that there is no heat about the 

 quarter, or ossification of the cartilage ; that 

 the frog, although diminished in size, is not 

 diseased ; that the horse does not step short, 

 and go as if the foot were tender ; and that I 

 there is not the slightest trace of lameness. 

 Unless these circumstances, or some of them, 

 are detected, a horse must not be pronounced 

 to be unsound because his feet are contracted ; 

 for many horses possessed of feet singularly 

 contracted, are perfectly free from lameness. 

 A special warranty, however, should be required 

 wliere the feet are at all contracted. 



Corns manifestly constitute unsoundness. 



The portion of the foot in which they are 



situated will not bear the ordinary pressure 



of the shoe; and any accidental additional 



iDressure, emanating from the growing down of 



the horn, or the introduction of dirt or gravel, 



will cause serious lameness. They render it 



necessary to wear a thick and heavy shoe, or a 



bar shoe, for the purpose of protecting the 



weakened and diseased part; and they are 



very seldom radically cured. They are usually 



found in white feet with weak low heels ; but 



they are too common in feet of all colours, 



Gougli. This is a disease, and consequently 



IGO 



unsoundness. However slight may be its de- 

 gree, and of whatever short standing it may be, 

 although it may sometimes scarcely seem to 

 interfere with the usefulness of the horse, yet 

 a change of stabling, or slight exposure to wet 

 and cold, or the least over-exertion, may at 

 other times cause it to 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, however, that a horse may be 

 returned on breach of the warranty. Unless 

 the seller of the horse has contracted to take 

 him back, he is not necessarily bound to do so. 

 He is liable in damages, however. Lord Ellen- 

 borough says — " I have always held that a 

 warranty of soundness is broken, if the animal, 

 at the time of the sale, had any infirmity upon 

 him that rendered him less fit for present 

 service. It is not necessary that the disorder 

 should be permanent or incurable. "While he 

 has a cough he is unsound, although that may 

 either be temporary or prove mortal." In 

 giving judgment upon another case, the same 

 authority said — " I have always held it, that a 

 couf^h is a breach of the warranty. On that 

 understanding I have always acted, and think 

 it quite clear." According to this judge, there- 

 fore, cough is a breach of warranty. 



Boaring, Wheezing, Whistling, Iligh-Uow- 

 ing, and Grimting, being the result of altera- 

 tion of structure or disease in some of the air 

 passages, and interfering with the perfect 

 freedom of breathing, and especially when the 

 horse is put on his speed, without doubt con- 

 stitute unsoundness. There are decisions to 

 the contrary, which are now universally ad- 

 mitted to be erroneous. Broken wind is still 

 decidedly unsoundness. 



Crih-hiting. Altliough there is some dif- 

 ference of opinion on this point, nevertheless 

 crib-biting must be regarded as unsoundness. 

 This unnatural sucking in of the air must, to 

 a certain degree, be detrimental to digestion, 

 dispose to colic, and interfere with the strength, 

 usefulness, and health of the horse. Some 

 crib-biters are good goers ; but they probably 

 would have possessed more endurance had 

 they not acquired this habit ; and it is a well- 



