UNSOUNDNESS AND VICE. 191 



be of a permanent nature ; it is sufficient if it render 

 the animal for the time unfit for service, as, for 

 instance, an attack of influenza." 



This definition leaves much room for improve- 

 ment. To render an animal unfit for service is 

 not sufficient evidence of its being unsound. A 

 horse may have glanders, disease of the heart, and 

 many other ailments, yet be quite capable of per- 

 forming ordinary work. 



A distinction must be made between temporary 

 and permanent unsoundness. A trifling injury, cold, 

 etc., renders the animal for the time being un- 

 sound. 



The same remark applies to thrush of one or 

 more of the feet. So long as this exists, it is advisable 

 for the veterinarian to consider the animal unsound. 

 It is not the duty of a purchaser to begin doctoring 

 a horse when he buys it, and if this disease is neg- 

 lected, it is very Uable to run on until it causes 

 lameness. 



Defects of conformation do not constitute unsound- 

 ness, though they may predispose to it. A horse 

 having defective action, or some bony prominence 

 which renders the part particularly liable to be 

 struck with, say, the opposite foot, cannot be 

 regarded as an unsound animal, and the writer 



