492 HOUSE-DEALING. 



crib-biting, in its incipient state, has been held to 

 be no unsoundness ; but when inveterate, and inter- 

 fering with the health of the animal, which it does 

 by impairing his digestion, it then has been held 

 to fall within the meaning of the term. But how 

 many thousand first-rate hunters and race-horses 

 have been and are crib-biters ; and, with the com- 

 mon precaution of the neck-strap, not in the least 

 the worse for it. Thus it appears that the doc- 

 trine laid down by Lord Ellenborough is right — 

 namely, " that any infirmity which renders a horse 

 less fit for present use or convenience, is an un- 

 soundness : " to which we may add, in the spirit of 

 controversy, that any infirmity which does not 

 render a horse less fit for present use or conve- 

 nience, is not an unsoundness. Nevertheless, we 

 think it is not justifiable in a person to sell a horse 

 which is a crib-biter, how good soever he may be, 

 without previously mentioning the fact to the 

 buyer, although the act is generally self-evident, 

 from the mark made on the neck by the preventive 

 strap. 



A few years back. Sir John Dean Paul, the Lon- 

 don banker, was plaintiff in an action to recover 

 the price given by him for a horse which proved 

 to be a crib-biter, and obtained a verdict ; but the 

 evidence of the veterinarians, who were examined 

 on the point in question, was curiously contra- 

 dictory. But how stands the matter of unsound- 

 ness in regard to a temporary lameness ? Why, 

 in a case which turned upon an alleged lameness, 

 wherein it was admitted by a witness for the de- 



