SOUNDNESS RULES FOR PURCHASE. 45il 



forehand is liable to stumble, and is continually ■jutting to 

 hazard the neck of his rider ; another, with an irriVj,ble consti- 

 tution and a loose, washy form, loses his appetite anj begins to 

 scour if a litte extra work is exacted from him. The term un- 

 soundness must not be appUed to either of these ; it would be 

 opening far too widely a door to disputation and endless wrang- 

 hng. The buyer can discern, or ought to know, whether the 

 form of the horse is that which will render him likely to suit 

 his purpose, and he should try him sufficiently to ascertain his 

 natural strength, endurance, and manner of going. Unsound- 

 ness, we repeat, has reference only to diseease, or to that al- 

 teration of structure which is connected with, or will produce 

 disease, and lessen the usefulness of the animal. 



These principles wiU be best illustrated by a brief consider- 

 ation of the usually supposed appearances or causes of unsound- 

 ness. 



Broken kneiss certainly do not constitute unsoundness, after 

 the wounds are healed, unless they interfere with the action of 

 the joint ; for the horse may have fallen from mere accident, or 

 through the fault of the rider, without the slightest damage 

 more than the blemish. No person, however, would buy a 

 horse with broken knees, until he has thoroughly tried him, and 

 satisfied himself as to his form and action. 



Capped hocks may be produced by lying on an unevenly 

 paved stable, with a scanty supply of litter, or by kicking gen- 

 erally, in neither of which cases would they constitute unsound- 

 ness, although in the latter they would be an indication of vice ; 

 but, in the majority of instances, they are the consequence of 

 sprain, or of latent injury of the hock, and accompanied by 

 enlargement of it, and would constitute unsoundness. A special 

 warranty should always be taken against capped hocks.* 



Contraction is a considerable deviation from the natural form 

 of the foot, but not necessarily constituting unsoundness. It re- 

 quires, however, a most careful examination on the part of the 

 purchaser or veterinary surgeon, in order to ascertain that there 

 is no heat about the quarter, or ossification of the cartilage — 

 that the frog, although diminished in size, is not diseased — ^that 



* Note by Mr. Spooner. — Capped hocks. — In nine cases out of ten these 

 enlargements are occasioned by kicking in the stall, a vice altogether differ- 

 ent from that of spitefulneas, which appears to arise more from restless- 

 ness than anything else. The swelling consists of an effusion of serum or 

 water in the cellular bag which is found beneath the skin at the point of 

 the hock, placed there for the purpose of giving facility of motion. 



It is never occasioned by strains, therefore, although a sad blemish, it 

 should not be regarded as an unsoundness, unless accompanied with other 

 indications of disease. 



