VETERINARY JURISPRUDENCE. 
461 
fired ; thought that it was a natural formation, and not a 
curb ; firing a horse did not improve its appearance, but did 
not interfere with its action ; in England horses were fired as 
a preventive from curbs ; had not much knowledge of 
horses ; did not deal in them ; he had not bought more than 
two horses in the course of eleven or twelve years, and had 
one horse for fifteen years ; the chesnut horse when he got 
him was four years old ; gave £35 for him ; when he bought 
him he was a colt, unbroken; had him in Kildare about a 
year and four months ; bought him to break and sell him 
again; on one occasion a gentleman offered him about £150 
for the two ; he saw 7 them in the field ; Mr. Tuthill, of Daw- 
son-street, made an offer to him for the horse; asked him 
would he take £100 for the horse; some French gentlemen 
saw the horse at Dycer’s ; they rode and like him very much ; 
they did not buy him ; they said they w^ould buy him but 
that he was asking too much for him ; thought it was 
upwards of fifty Irish miles from his place in Kildare to 
Ballinasloe ; the horse arrived about six o’clock in the even- 
ing; it was dark; next morning a gentleman came to look 
at the horse; the horse appeared to be very stiff in the 
shoulder ; he (the dealer) rode him down the road, and he 
said that he w^as very lazy and done up ; he was not lazy, 
but the poor fellow was done up; he had never travelled 10 
miles before on one day with a man on his back ; on the 
next day another person got on the horse and rode him across 
the fair green ; on the horse fair day tw r o or three persons 
saw the horse ; one of the dealers said he was a strong- 
hocked horse ; did not know what he meant by “ strong,’ 5 
but he w 7 as a coarse-hocked horse ; he w 7 as not contracted in 
the hoofs ; he was not at all narrow 7 -heeled ; he had fine large 
well-shaped feet; the dealer did not ask him — had the horse 
corns ? he objected to his mouth ; he said he pulled too hard ; 
he looked him all over, and made no objection to his forma- 
tion. 
Arthur Dawson examined — Was an extensive horse dealer; 
bought and sold in the year about two hundred horses ; if a 
buyer and seller agreed to take the opinion of a veterinary 
surgeon as to the soundness of a horse, the responsibility of 
the seller was at an end ; knew what spavin and ringbone 
w T ere; if a horse with ringbone got work during six months 
he would become lame ; if the shoes were taken off, and the 
foot w r as cleaned, a corn would be seen. 
Cross-examined by Mr. O' Hagan, Q. C . — His practice w r as 
to leave the buyer to take the opinion of any veterinary 
surgeon whom he pleased, and then his responsibility w r as 
