392 
VETERINARY JURISPRUDENCE. 
respect to the horse which formed the subject of the present 
action, he was prepared by the most indisputable testimony to 
prove, beyond all doubt, that the animal was “ sound.” In 
conclusion, he would entreat the Jury to consider the case fairly, 
as between the parties, without any prejudice, and, if they did 
so, then he was assured they would arrive at a just conclusion, 
that conclusion being a verdict for the defendant. 
Mr. Meyer , the riding-master to his Royal Highness Prince 
Albert, who had made several trials of the horse, on being 
called, stated, that at the time of the sale the animal was per- 
fectly sound. The reason the Prince did not become a pur- 
chaser was, that his Royal Highness did not like the white legs. 
Mr. Mavor, a veterinary surgeon, gave it as his opinion, that 
the horse was a sound horse essentially, and that although, like 
other horses, it had had the “ thrush,” still that disease in his 
case was the result of local inflammation, and not the result of 
deep internal disease. It was not from chronic causes. Of 
course, so long as a horse was labouring under thrush, or under 
its effects, he would be unsound. With regard to the size of 
the fore feet of this horse, the “ off fore foot” was the larger of 
the two. (It will be recollected that the medical witness called 
by the plaintiff stated that the off fore foot, that in which the 
disease was, was contracted and considerably smaller than any 
of the other feet.) In his opinion, there was no disease of 
thrush which was incurable. 
Mr. Field , another veterinary surgeon, said that he had 
examined this horse on the 9th of May, at which time the off 
fore foot was bad with thrush, and he saw him again yesterday, 
when he found that the animal was very considerably re- 
covered. In his opinion, this attack of thrush was the result 
of local inflammation, which might have been occasioned by 
neglect or an accident. He had measured the two fore feet of 
the horse, and had found that the off fore foot was the larger of 
the two. There was no contraction in this horse’s feet as the 
result of disease or as leading to disease. 
Cross-examined. — He did not see any contraction in the feet 
of this horse. 
By Mr. Baron Parke. — The feet, no doubt, were long and 
narrow, but they were not contracted. 
Cross-examination resumed. — This was a congenital form- 
ation without doubt, but not a case of contracted feet. When 
he examined the feet yesterday the frog had been all pared, 
because it had been diseased. His examination of the horse on 
the 9th of May satisfied him that the horse was unsound, for 
he was lame in the off fore foot. The frog at that time was 
spongy and decayed, and a discharge was coming from it. 
