46 EXAMINATION OF HORSES AS TO SOUNDNESS 



upon it in its working, any defects that may be 

 present make themselves apparent. 



In my opinion, to stand a horse against a wall 

 and strike at it with a stick or the fist is no test 

 at all, for a nervous and excitable animal is by 

 this mode of procedure worked up to such a pitch 

 that anything it does cannot be taken as a true 

 indication of its normal condition. Nothing can 

 be more censured or deprecated than the severe 

 pressing of the cartilages of the throat that some 

 people practise in endeavouring to make the horse 

 cough, and I have no doubt that many a horse 

 that has been standing in a sale-yard for a couple 

 of days prior to sale, that was perfectly sound 

 before being sent there, has develoj^ed roaring, 

 though perhaps much oftener whistling, by injury 

 done to the cartilages of the throat by severe 

 pressure being repeatedly applied by different 

 persons making the test. As stated above, to 

 properly test a horse's wind, the animal should 

 be galloped, but if it is a heavy harness horse, it 

 should be put in harness and driven as fast as is 

 expedient. 



In the case of heavy draught horses, when 



