VETERINARY JURISPRUDENCE. 
235 
We must, however, here leave this subject, and even 
apologize to our readers and contributors for thus occupying 
so much of their time with our explanations, but we have 
ventured to do so with a view of hereafter devoting our pages 
to matters of a more professional character than the mere 
taming of vicious horses. 
Veterinary Jurisprudence. 
SHREWSBURY COUNTY COURT. 
IMPORTANT DECISION. 
Barrett v . Preece. 
Mr. T. Smallwood appeared for the plaintiff, and Mr. B. H. Smallwood for 
the defendant. 
This case, in which there was a jury, and which appeared to excite consi- 
derable interest, came off at the adjourned court on Monday, before Uvedale 
Corbett, Esq., Judge. Although the greater portion of the day was occu- 
pied in the examination of witnesses, a great number of whom were called 
on each side, the facts of the case may be stated somewhat briefly. The 
plaintiff is a gentleman residing at a place called Bryngwyn, near Llanfyllin, 
and the defendant was Mr. W. G. Preece, auctioneer, of this town. The 
action was brought to recover the sum of £25 7s. 6 d., loss incurred by the 
purchase of a mare warranted sound by the defendant, and now alleged to 
be unsound in consequence of a disease called “ thrushes” in the hind feet. 
It appeared, from the plaintiff’s case, that Mr. Corbett Davies, solicitor, of 
this town, was commissioned by Mr. Barrett to purchase the mare in question 
from Mr. Preece, on the 2nd of December last, if, after using her in harness, 
he considered her likely to suit him. Mr. Davies, having been driven by 
the defendant a distance of fifteen or sixteen miles, a portion of which was 
done over a rough and stony road, at the rate of twelve miles an hour, ex- 
pressed his satisfaction with the animal, and purchased her on behalf of Mr. 
Barrett at the sum of £55, a warranty of soundness being given at the time. 
For the plaintiff several witnesses were called to show that the mare exhi- 
bited some “ stiffness in the feet,” or “ lameness,” or “ tenderness,” very 
soon after she left the stable of the defendant, and amongst these the man 
who rode the mare from Shrewsbury to Bryngwyn, who admitted to having 
been drunk and insolent at the time he came to Mr. Preece 5 s office for the 
mare, in consequence of which he was turned out. These witnesses, whose 
imperfect English excited some amusement, spoke also to the presence of 
thrushes in the hind feet within a day or two of the purchase, and two vete- 
rinary surgeons, Mr. Hales, of Oswestry, and Mr. Crowe, of Shrewsbury, 
were of opinion that the thrushes were of very long standing. Mr. Hales 
characterised them as “ the worst he .ever saw,” and Mr. Crowe said that 
the sensitive frogs of the feet were entirely denuded of their horny covering, 
and that many months must elapse before this could be reproduced, during 
which time it was utterly impossible that the mare could perform ordinary- 
work without considerable lameness. They were both also of opinion that 
thrushes, whether in the hind or the fore feet, were in all stages, and how- 
