40 SOUNDNESS IN HOESES. 



stitutional disease or weakness. When a young horse 

 shows signs of work, the case is, however, very different. 

 All such questions of soundness as those of filled or worn 

 legs can, naturally, be decided only by the examining 

 veterinary surgeon. 



Firing, marks of. — Some owners, as a preservative 

 measure, make a practice of firing the hocks of their 

 young horses, in the event of their considering that 

 these joints show signs of weakness. The Arabs and 

 other Eastern nations employ the hot iron in a rather 

 indiscriminate manner, as a remedy for various ailments, 

 some of which, such as colic, may be but of a temporary 

 nature. In all cases where we find marks of the actual 

 cautery, we should redouble our efforts to discover if 

 there exist, in the part, anything which might militate 

 ao-ainst the soundness of the animal; but if we are 

 unsuccessful in our search, we should not reject the 

 horse because of the existing blemish, which in itself 

 does not come under the definition of unsoundness. 



Galls, harness and saddle. — See remarks by Mr. Baron 

 Parke, page 3. 



Grunting. — '* If a horse, when struck at or suddenly 

 moved, emits during respiration a grunting sound, it is 

 called a * grunter.' Such a sound may or may not have 

 any connection with disease of the larynx. A horse will 

 grunt with pain when suffering from pleurisy, pleuro- 

 dynia, and other diseases. Some horses habitually grunt 



