ABSOLUTE UNSOUNDNESS. 25 



if he is stilty in his action, even without actual lameness, 

 or if the feet be contracted, altered in form, weak in the 

 heels, flat or convex in the sole, there should be no 

 hesitation in pronouncing him unsound .... It will be 

 useful to bear in mind that when these cartilages are 

 ossified, the horse's gait will lose that elasticity which is 

 so essential to good action. In the cart-horse this is not 

 of much consequence, but in the horse required for other 

 paces than the walk, it is of the greatest importance, not 

 only as a question of soundness or unsoundness, but of the 

 usefulness of the horse and safety of the rider or driver." 

 With all due deference to the great authority whom I have 

 just quoted, I venture to think, that the fact of this disease 

 injuriously affecting "that elasticity which is so essential 

 to good action," would always have the effect of rendering 

 it an unsoundness in the eyes of the law. A cart-horse 

 suffering from it might be passed as " practically sound," 

 provided, he was not lame. I may remark that side- 

 bones, being a consequence of concussion, are much less 

 serious w^hen in the hind feet, than when in the fore. 



Sole, iveah. — When this condition is a result of dis- 

 ease, it is an unsoundness ; but when it is a congenital 

 defect, not causing lameness, it is not so. "Mere 

 defective formation, however, not producing lameness 

 at the time of sale, is not, in my opinion, unsoundness." 

 {Mr. Justice Cresswell in Bailey v. Forrest*) 



* Carrington and Kii'wan's Eeports, vol. 2, p. 131. 



