AS TO "SOUNDNESS" 



anything to which the adjective may not properly 

 apply. Of course the majority of buyers are 

 unable to decide for themselves as to what defects 

 are really injurious, or likely to become so ; or 

 even to determine whether blemishes exist at all. 

 In this emergency the veterinarian is called in, 

 and the matter is blindly left to his verdict, which 

 is competent so far as concerns physical merit, 

 but generally weak when it includes an opinion as 

 to the fitness of the animal for the purpose 

 intended. It will thus be seen that the veter- 

 inary is generally (in private dealing at least) 

 the arbiter who decides the points at issue, and 

 that, so far as a " deal " is concerned, he is the 

 power behind the throne. 



Not only by private buyers, but by the dealers 

 themselves, is the veterinarian consulted more and 

 more every day ; his opinions are more carefully 

 weighed, and his place in the horse-world more 

 generally appreciated and properly recognized. 

 He has it in his power, therefore, by timely word 

 and proper demonstration, largely to modify the 

 exactions of a public which does not at all realize 

 that it is demanding impossibilities when it insists 

 upon having a sound horse, — such a creature hav- 

 ing never been seen — and to cause it to realize 



23 



