488 UNSOUNDNESS. 



he would there first fail on extraordinary exertion. A horse, however, is not 

 returnable, although he should spring a curb five minutes after the purchase ; 

 for it is done in a moment, and does not necessarily indicate any previous 

 unsoundness or weakness of the part. 



Cutting, as rendering a horse liable to serious injury of the legs, and 

 indicating that he is either weak, or has an awkwardness of gait inconsistent 

 with safety, produces, rather than is, unsoundness. Many horses go lame 

 for a considerable period after cutting themselves severely ; and others have 

 dropped from the sudden agony, and endangered themselves and their riders. As 

 some doubt, however, exists on this subject, and as it is a very material objection 

 to a horse, cutting, when evident, should have its serious consequences provided 

 against by a special warranty. 



Enlarged Glands. — The enlargement of the glands under the jaw has not 

 been so much considered as it ought to have been in our estimate of the sound- 

 ness of the horse. Simple catarrh will occasionally, and severe affection of the 

 chest will generally, be accompanied by swelling of these glands, which 

 does not subside for a considerable time after the cold or fever has apparently 

 been cured. To slight enlargements of the glands under the jaw much atten- 

 tion need not be paid ; but if they are of considerable size, and especially if they 

 are tender, and the glands at the root of the ear partake of the enlargement, and 

 the membrane of the nose is redder than it should be, we should hesitate in 

 pronouncing that horse to be sound. We must consider the swelling as a 

 symptom of disease. 



Enlarged Hook. — A horse with enlarged hock is unsound, the structure 

 of this complicated joint being so materially affected that, although the horse 

 may appear for a considerable time to be capable of ordinary work, he will occa- 

 sionally fail even in that, and a few days' hard work will always lame him. 



The Eyes. — That inflammation of the eye of the horse which usually ter- 

 minates in blindness of one or both eyes, has the peculiar character of receding 

 or disappearing for a time, once or twice, or thrice, before it fully runs its 

 course. The eye, after an attack of inflammation, regains so nearly its former 

 natural brilliancy that a person even well acquainted with horses will not 

 always recognise the traces of former disease. After a time, however, 

 the inflammation returns, and the result is inevitable. A horse that has 

 had one attack of this complaint, is long afterwards unsound, however per- 

 fect the eye may seem to be, because he carries about with him a disease 

 that will probably again break out, and eventually destroy the sight. Whether, 

 therefore, he may be rejected or not, depends on the possibility of proving an 

 attack of inflammation of the eye, prior to the purchase. Next to direct evi- 

 dence of this are appearances about the e3"e, of which the veterinary surgeon at 

 least ought not to be ignorant. Allusion has been made to them in page 131. 

 They consist chiefly of a puckering of the lids towards the inner corner of one or 

 both eyes — a difference in the size of the eyes, although perhaps only a slight 

 one, and not discovered except it be looked for — a gloominess of the eye — a dul- 

 ness of the iris — a little dulness of the transparent part of the eye generally — a 

 minute, faint, dusky spot, deep in the eye, and generally with little radiations 

 of white lines proceeding from it. If these symptoms, or the majority of them, 

 existed at the time of purchase, the animal had assuredly been diseased 

 before, and was unsound. Starting has been considered as an equivocal proof. 

 It is usually an indication of defective sight, but it is occasionally a trick. 

 Connected, however, with the appearances just described, it is a very strong 

 corroborative proof. 



Lameness, from whatever cause arising, is unsoundness. However torn- 



