82 



WHAT DISEASES CONSTITUTE UNSOUNDNESS OR VICE. 



Grogginess. 



Grimting. 

 Gutta Serena. 



Hereditary 

 disease. 



extend, and the whole surface of the heel becomes a mass 

 of soreness, ulceration, and fungus (2). When this disease 

 renders a horse unfit for immediate work, it must be con- 

 sidered an unsoundness. 



The peculiar knuckling over of the fetlock-joint and 

 tottering of the whole of the fore leg, known by the name 

 of grogginess, and which is so often seen in old and over- 

 worked horses, is seldom an affection of either the fetlock 

 or pastern joints simply, although these have their full 

 share in the mischief that has been produced. It is some- 

 times difficult to fix on any particular joint ; at other times, 

 it seems to be traced to a joint deep in the foot, where 

 the flexor tendon runs over the navicular bone. It seems 

 usually to be a want of power in the ligaments of the 

 joints, generally produced by frequent and severe sprains, 

 or by ill-judged and cruel exertion, and, in the majority 

 of cases, admits of no remedy, especially as dissection often 

 discovers ulceration within the joints and of the membrane 

 which lines the cartilage, and even of the cartilage itself, 

 which it was impossible to reach or to remove {a) . When it 

 exists in such a degree as to diminish the natural useful- 

 ness of the horse, it must be considered an unsoundness. 



Grunting is an unsoundness ; see Roaring (6). 



Gtitta serena, commonly called glass-eye, is a species of 

 blindness. The pupil is unusually dilated ; it is immov- 

 able, bright and glassy. It is a palsy of the optic nerve, 

 or its expansion, the retina, and is usually produced by 

 determination of blood to the head. It may be caused by 

 improper treatment of the staggers, where the pressure on 

 the base of the brain has been so great, that the nerve has 

 been injured and its function destroyed (c). It is an un- 

 soundness. 



There is scarcely a malady to which the horse is subject 

 which is not hereditary. Contracted feet, curb, spavin, 

 roaring, thick-wind, blindness, notoriously descend from the 

 father and dam to the foal, which from them inherits its 

 constitution and endurance {d). It would no doubt be a 

 matter of great difficulty to maintain an action on a breach 

 of warranty of soundness on the sale of a horse, on the 

 ground of hereditary disease alone, but it is presumed to be 



(z) Lib. U. K. " The Horse," 276. [c) 



\a) Lib. U. K. "The Horse," 116. 



252. See also Lib. U. K. App. Ed. Chap 



1862, p. 507. [d) 



[b) Eoaring, post. 221. 



Lib. U. K. "The Horse," 

 And see Patent Defects, post, 



Lib. U.K. "The Horse," 



