.708 SOUNDNESS. 



soundness." Hill, J. : " The true test is, whether the defect com- 

 plained of renders the horse less than reasonably fit for present 

 use; and it is immaterial, if there be sucli a defect, whether it be 

 congenital or of more recent occurrence." " I have always considered 

 that a man who buys a horse warranted sound, must be taken as 

 buying for immediate use, and has a right to expect one capable of 

 that use, and of being immediately put to any fair work the owner 

 chooses " (Mr. Baron Parke in " Coates v. Stephens," " Moody and 

 Robinson's Reports," vol. 2, p. 158). 



Practical Soundness. 



The term, " practically sound," although it has no legal signifi- 

 cance, may be applied for convenience' sake to a horse capable of 

 doing a fair amount of work, although he possesses one or more 

 defects which might constitute a breach of warranty, if a warranty 

 of soundness had been given. The defects in question niay be 

 absolute unsoundness in themselves, or open to opinion on that 

 point. Thus, if a veterinary surgeon on examining a horse, found 

 that he had a thrush or curb, or both of these ailments at the same 

 time, or a slightly enlarged fetlock joint, he might, very reasonably, 

 state in his certificate, after mentioning the defects he had found, 

 that the horse was " practically sound;" supposing that the thrush 

 was not an aggravated one ; that neither the back of the hock, nor 

 the fetlock joint, exhibited any symptoms of recent inflammation ; 

 and the animal's action was unimpaired. This expression, as we 

 may see, is a very elastic one ; is entirely a matter of individual 

 opinion ; and when applied to a horse, means that he is actually 

 unsound, although to a modified extent. A few veterinary surgeons, 

 who form an insignificantly small minority in the profession, use it 

 to save themselves, even if the horse they are examining fulfils all 

 the usual requirements ; lest, perchance, he might reflect discredit 

 on them by developing, in the future, some form of unsoundness 

 which they, at the time, were unable to discern. It is evident that 

 if a man can find nothing in a horse which interferes, or is likely 

 to interfere, with its usefulness, he is conscientiously bound to pass 

 the animal sound, without making any selfish reservation ; and 

 that, if he shirks the responsibility of his position, he does wrong 

 in taking a fee for the work he has not faithfully performed. As a 

 rule, the more experience a practitioner has had, the broader view 

 will he take about soundness in horses, few of which are free from 

 some trivial defect or the other, with which a person inclined to be 

 hypercritical, might find a serious fault. 



