480 HORSE-DEALING. 



a shilling to another, all depending upon the pace 

 at which he is ridden after hounds. 



But in all cases of a horse warranted sound, one, 

 often insuperable, difficulty arises in the event of 

 his proving unsound — and this is, the proof of his 

 having been unsound, or lame, from the very iden- 

 tical cause of his present unsoundness, or lameness, 

 whilst in the possession of the seller. Without this 

 proof, no action of trouver can be maintained ; and, 

 as we are aware that some diseases will remain a 

 long time inactive — in fact, will not be brought into 

 action at all until the horse has done some work — 

 warranties are, after all, but very slender securities 

 to the buyer. In our opinion, the general pur- 

 chaser, if he have no previous knowledge of a horse 

 he wishes to become possessed of, has a better 

 chance of protection from loss, by adopting the fol- 

 lowing precautionary measures, than from trusting 

 to the " glorious uncertainty of the law :*" — Let 

 him submit the horse to the inspection of a veteri- 

 nary surgeon of acknowledged ability, who, from 

 his anatomical knowledge, will be able to detect 

 not only incipient disease — the chief cause of sub- 

 sequent unsoundness — but to make a fair estimate 

 of the probability of the horse not becoming un- 

 sound from mal-conformation of limbs, ill organised 

 feet or fetlocks, bony excrescences, which so frequent- 

 ly abound, and are in some cases injurious, although 

 in others not ; ill organised eyes, &c. &c. As to 

 the good properties of the horse, they are to be 

 judged of by the buyer, and a difficult judgment it 

 is, without a previous trial, so many circumstances 



