EXAIVIINATION FOR PURCHASE. 265 



The chest and breast should also be searched for marks 

 f)f rowels, setons, and blisters, for the remains of them ren- 

 der it probable that the horse has been under treatment for 

 inflamed lungs or chest affections, and should in prudence 

 direct the purchaser to ascertain by a smart gallop whe- 

 ther the mischief is of a permanent nature, more especially 

 if the horse is naiTow-chested. 



The knees should be examined with the utmost care, 

 first that they correspond in shape, and secondly, to ascer- 

 tain whether the skin has been broken by falls ; but it does 

 not follow that a mark or scar indicates a stumbler, and an 

 accidental blemish should not induce us at once to con- 

 demn a well-formed animal. 



A broken knee may happen from a variety of causes. 

 The safest horse may fall by an unavoidable accident, such 

 as a false step, from any thing giving way under the foot, 

 as a round stone, from fatigue and over exertion, or from 

 a bad rider. But a broken knee is a suspicious circum- 

 stance ; it may be taken as an indication of existing or re- 

 cent unsoundness, and the slightest mark calls for the most 

 careful observation of every part of the horse, of his make 

 and action, and suo^gests the naiTowest scrutiny of the legs 

 and feet; a tight shoe, a nail driven too close, or from bad 

 shoeing. The toe being left too long open, causes a horse 

 to trip, tendeniess in the feet, contraction, groggy lame- 

 ness, corns, and thrush: a scar on the head, above the eye, 

 (for a decided fall of the horse leaves unequivocal signs 

 there) is a suspicious sign ; when no trace of local disease 

 can be found to account for them, the inquiry should be 

 followed up into the horse's constitution, for the staggers 

 or megrims may have occasioned the accident. 



When a scar on the knee is observed in connection with 

 low withers, a thick and upright shoulder and pasterns, 

 with the legs inclined unrler the bone, he is unwise who 

 does not take the hint that the faulty formation has not 

 produced its natural consequence. To discover the integ 

 rity of the knee, is not so easy as some suppose, as occa- 

 sionally the hair grows so well over the wound, as to leave 

 it hardly discernible ; but on minute inspection, when there 

 has been a scar, an interception of the gloss is apparent, as 

 if the hair grew in an oblique direction ; should this be 

 observed on bending the joint, the secret will be exposed. 

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