THE CARRIAGE-HORSE. 65 



be rejected without hesitation, nor is it safe to use a horse that 

 has been unnerved, any more than you would a coach with an 

 unsound axletree. Of course an absolutely broken-winded 

 horse, with that peculiar action of the flanks incidental to this 

 condition arid necessary to expel the compressed wind from his 

 lungs, should never under any circumstances be admitted into 

 the stable. His life must be one of constant suffering, and his 

 only place is the knacker's yard. Horses for harness, touched 

 in the wind, commonly called 'grunters,' 'roarers,' or 'whistlers,' 

 are much less objectionable than as hunters. It is not likely 

 that a horse unsound in wind can travel at any great pace 

 without some discomfort and distress to himself, and yet such 

 an one might answer all the purposes required of him in the 

 streets of London, or for easy work in the country. There 

 are horses which are known to have something against them, 

 but still do not appear to be useless ; and if an animal of this 

 sort can be hired from the dealer for a month, it is easy to try 

 him for the work he may be required for, and if it is found that 

 he is not distressed thereby, he may be worth purchasing at a 

 price. 



A string-halt is an affection which, beyond its unsightliness, 

 may be no great detriment, and indeed may not constitute un- 

 soundness at all ladies have been known to declare that the 

 most comfortable hack in the world is one which has a string- 

 halt in both hind legs. Few horses who have done a certain 

 amount of work will fail to show wind-galls, or enlarged bursce, 

 but these are rarely a sign of anything further than work, 

 unless they should become so distended by the fluid they 

 contain as to set up inflammation and thence lameness. 



Splints are, next to wind-galls, the most common cause of 

 unsoundness. Lameness arising from splints is caused by the 

 pressure of a growing formation upon the covering of the 

 shank bone, and can usually be reduced so as to cause little 

 inconvenience, though if one should form between the large 

 and two smaller bones of the leg, it may lead to permanent 



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