HANDBOOK OF THE TURF. 283 



Unsoundness. Any deviation from nature. That 

 horse is unsound wliich labors under disease, or tliat has some 

 alteration of structure which does interfere, or is likely to 

 interfere, with his natural usefulness. Unsoundness is classed 

 under three heads: 1. Absolute unsoundness — those cases 

 wherein there can be no question either from a veterinary or 

 legal standpoint. 2. Relative unsoundness, or defects which 

 may not be unsoundness, according to circumstances, such as 

 their nature and position, the age of the animal and the nature 

 of the work demanded of it. 3. Hereditary unsoundness, or 

 those cases of well-defined transmission to offspring. A list of 

 diseases and other alterations of structure causing unsoundness, 

 is given: Asthma; blindness; bog spavin; bone spavin; 

 broken wind ; catarrh, (nasal gleet) ; capped hock ; capped 

 knee ; cough ; curb ; corns ; canker ; contracted feet ; cribbing ; 

 cutting ; eczema, (mange) ; farcy ; false quarter ; founder ; 

 glanders ; grease ; groggy gait ; heaves, (broken wind) ; knees 

 bent forward ; knuckling with the pastern joint, or joints ; 

 laminitis, (founder) ; navicular disease ; ophthalmia ; paralysis ; 

 poll evil ; pumice sole ; quidding ; quittor ; rheumatism ; ring- 

 bone, (if near the heels so as to alter the flexibility of the car- 

 tilage) ; roaring ; sand crack ; stringhalt, (when due to dis- 

 eased nerve) ; splint ; swollen knees ; shying, (if from diseased 

 eyes) ; strangles ; stumbling, (occasioned by inflammation of 

 the foot) ; thorough pin ; thick wind ; thrush ; wind galls ; 

 wind sucking, (in later stages when it affects the digestive 

 organs); whistling; weakness of sinews; wounds, (till cured). 

 In addition to this list the following notes are given : When 

 the use of a bar or round shoe is constantly required for corns, 

 sand crack or thrush, its use is an evidence of unsoundness ; 

 long pasterns, which indicate an unnatural elongation of the 

 tendons, are evidence of unsoundness ; a wen upon the w^ind- 

 pipe, or upon a main vein or artery, is an unsoundness ; if the 

 frog is so altered in structure as to be perpetually tender, it is 

 an unsoundness ; soft enlargements upon the limbs, during 

 formation, and until their result is known, are an unsoundness ; 

 a distended, bulky, unnaturally large stomach, or barrel, is 

 often an indication of dropsy, and in such cases is an unsound- 

 ness ; in case medicine is required, until the effects of the 

 medicine are removed it constitutes an unsoundness ; every 

 species of lameness and tenderness is an unsoundness, until 

 removed ; a horse may be serviceable without being absolutely 

 sound. 



[Law.] The question of niisomidiiess is a mixed question of law and 

 fact.— Massachusetts Reports, 8 Gray, 1861, p. 432. 



The rule of unsoundness is, that if, at the tune of the sale, tlie horse 

 has any disease whicli actually does diminish the natural usefnl- 

 iiess of the animal, so as to make him less capable of work of any 



