96 



the purchaser's personal knowledge that the fall 

 was occasioned by accident, independent of disease. 

 The slightest mark therefore, upon the knee, should 

 suggest a very narrow scrutiny in the legs, feet, 

 action, and every point about a horse. Even where 

 no possible trace of local disease can be found, a 

 purchaser should not rest satisfied, but follow up 

 his inquiry into the horse's constitution. The stag- 

 gers, the megrims, and many similar stomach com- 

 plaints, may have occasioned the fall of a horse, 

 and consequently the blemish on his knee, while 

 his legs remain as free from defect as a foal's. In 

 short, I would never buy a horse with blemished 

 knees, however slight the injury might appear, 

 unless his history for the last six months had been 

 familiar to me from personal knowledge. A horse 

 will never fall if he can help it, and nine times out 

 of ten is as much frightened by the accident as his 

 rider. 



Where, from peculiar circumstances such as I 

 have mentioned, a man is not deterred from pur- 

 chasing, he should carefully observe whether the 

 injured knee is enlarged ; if he finds this to be the 

 case, it is to be inferred that there is considerable 

 local injury: he should also notice with more than 

 usual attention whether the action of the horse is 

 restrained or imperfect. It may be fairly assumed 



