38 SOUNDNESS IN HOKSES. 



turning out one of his fore legs, as to be incapable of 

 work to any extent without cutting, so as to produce 

 lameness. 



" Follett, in his reply, contended, that at all events the 

 horse was unsound from this malformation ; that a horse 

 so ill-formed as to be incapable of the ordinary use- 

 fulness of a horse was unsound. 



"Alderson, J., on summing up, said, that the horse 

 could not be unsound in law, merely from badness of 

 shape. As long as he was uninjured, he must be con- 

 sidered sound. When the injury is produced by the 

 badness of his action, that injury constitutes the un- 

 soundness. His lordship then put the other parts of the 

 case to the jury, who found a yerdict for the defendant." 



Although the foregoing dictum appears to settle the 

 subject of "■ cutting " in a very definite manner ; still, if 

 we also take into consideration the more recent rulings 

 on Holy day v. Morgan (see page 5) and Coates v. Stephens 

 {see page 6), we must admit that a horse should be 

 regarded as unsound, if he is less than reasonably fit for 

 immediate use, for instance, by reason of his habit of 

 cutting. This would, especially, apply to horses required 

 for cross-country work, at which, animals given to the 

 fault in question might be most dangerous to ride. 

 Besides this, I hardly think that a horse which required 

 the employment of special precautions, such as a peculiar 

 method of shoeing, or the wearing of " boots," to prevent 



