686 
VETERINARY JURISPRUDENCE. 
abuse the horse on the road, nor put him off a walk ; the horse had 
been in a stand with another horse the night previous; Ferguson’s 
man said nothing about his having got into the manger ; took him 
to Belfast on the 19th ; after a journey to Lurgan, the horse came 
home with a shoe loose on the near fore foot ; had the shoe removed 
and re-applied at the smith’s shop ; his master was not satisfied 
with King’s opinion, and sent him all the way to Downpatrick to 
Dr. Hodges on the very next day, when the horse came home ; 
and, on the day of the auction, he was in as good condition and 
appearance as on the day he was bought. 
By the Court. — Observed the hole in his foot the day after he 
brought him home ; it was so plain, that any one could see it. 
Cross-examined. — The same shoe was again applied; did not 
ride the horse without a shoe. 
David M Car ten examined. — Is in Mr. Nicholson’s employ- 
ment ; saw the horse the Monday after Banbridge fair ; saw the 
hole in his foot; knows that Mr. Nicholson is not a judge of a 
horse ; the hole was in the place where horses are usually bled in 
the foot ; the horse was in good condition when sold by auction — 
if any thing, too fat. 
Mr. Hodges, Veterinary Surgeon, examined. — The horse was 
brought to me for examination on the 21st June ; was unsound, 
being lame in the near fore foot and off hock ; took the shoe off, 
and found the cause of lameness to be contraction of the hoof ; it 
appeared to him that he had been bled in that foot ; the effect of 
a loose shoe would be to give ease to the foot. 
Cross-examined. — Saw the hole in the foot before the shoe was 
taken off; there was no tenderness about it; the part was cica- 
trized; could not say the hole did any harm to the foot; tried it 
with the pincers all round ; he did not flinch, except at the centre, 
opposite the toe of the frog ; contraction is the consequence of all 
chronic diseases of the foot ; in this case the contraction was 
mostly of the inner quarter ; it is not possible to cure the disease. 
By the Court. — Measured the feet ; found the near one consi- 
derably less than the off ; the disease might have existed three 
months, or, perhaps, twelve ; the hole in the foot was the mark 
of the operation of bleeding, which must, of necessity, have been 
performed for some disease. 
For the Defence. 
Mr. King examined. — Is a veterinary surgeon, in business in 
Belfast; recollects examining a bay horse in Banbridge fair, by 
request of Mr. Tweedy, and afterwards in Belfast, by request of 
