494 HORSE-DEALING. 



And here arises another difficulty. How man}^ 

 thousand first-rate hunters (and it was frequently 

 the case with race-horses when they were kept in 

 training for any considerable time beyond the 

 period of their colthood) are subject to chronic 

 cough ! Now, chronic cough does not render a 

 horse " less fit for present use and convenience;'' 

 and yet, in the case of Sliillit^e v. Olaridge, it was 

 held by Lord Ellenborough to be unsoundness, 

 although the buyer was told that the horse in 

 question had a cough, and there was no evidence 

 of any mismanagement by the buyer. "If it had 

 a cough,'' said his Lordship, " and it was of a per- 

 manent nature, I have always held, that it was a 

 breach of warranty ; and such has, I believe, been 

 the understanding both in the profession and among 

 veterinary suro-eons. On that understandino- I 

 have always acted, and think it quite right. Know- 

 ledge makes no difference. There was a case before 

 Mr. J. Lawrence, in which it was held, and it was 

 there said, that the plaintiff might rely upon the 

 warranty only, and not choose to trust to his own 

 knowledge. I have always understood that a cough 

 is an unsoundness. The horse was then unsound 

 when he was bought ; and there is no proof of any 

 discontinuance of that unsoundness, or that he 

 would have got well if he had not been hunted." 

 Now, as it is held, that " no length of time elapsed 

 after the sale will alter the nature of a contract 

 originally false," it would appear, that a person 

 purchasing a hunter with chronic cough, warranted 



