254 INJURIES TO ANIMALS ON HIGHWAYS. 



whether he left him without a competent caretaker is for the 

 j^]-y 275 Sq^ where a husband left his wife in the wagon and 

 the horses were frightened by a blast, ran away and threw her 

 out.^^^ The violation of a local ordinance prohibiting the 

 owners of horses from leaving them unattended in a street 

 and not fastened, is not negligence per se, as matter of law, 

 but it is competent evidence of neghgence to go before the 

 jury.^''^ 



An action does not lie in favor of one who receives injuries 

 from a defective highway while using it for horse-racing and 

 matching his horse's speed. Otherwise, it seems, if he drives 

 fast incidentally to some legitimate purpose for which the 

 highway was intended.^'^® Playing with a dog is not such a 

 reasonable use of the sidewalk as to make the city liable for 

 injuries resulting from a defect.*'^® 



The question of contributory negligence is one for the jury, 

 under all the circumstances of the case.^®" 



69. Evidence; Damages — In an action to recover for an in- 

 jury sustained by reason of a defective way, if it becomes a 

 material question whether the plaintiff's horse had a habit of 

 shying at the time of the accident, the defendants may, after 

 introducing evidence of instances of his shying before that 

 time, prove similar instances afterwards. "The habit of an 

 animal is in its nature a continuous fact, to be shown by proof 

 of successive acts of a similar kind. Evidence having been 

 first offered to show that the horse had been restive and un- 

 manageable previous to the occasion in question, testimony 

 •that he subsequently manifested a similar disposition was 



"'■' Ark. Teleph. Co. v. Ratteree, 57 Ark. 429. 

 "" Joliet V. Seward, 86 III. 402. 



"' McCambley v. Staten Island M. R. Co., 32 N. Y. App. Div. 346. 

 '™ McCarthy v. Portland, 67 Me. 167. 

 "" Jackson v. Greenville, 72 Miss. 220. 



"'"Carver v. Detroit & S. Plank-Road Co., 69 Mich. 6i6: Bait. & R. 

 Tiirnp. Road v. State, 71 Md. 573, and the cases cited supra. 



