DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 
72 
4 — 
his time, and sometimes render it difficult or impossible for him to graze, 
when the state of the animal or the convenience of the owner requires 
that he should be turned out. 
Curb constitutes unsoundness while it lasts, and perhaps while the 
swelling remains, although the inflammation may have subsided ; for a 
horse that has once thrown out a curb is, for a while at least, very liable 
to do so again, to get lame in the same place on the slightest extra ex- 
ertion ; or, at all events, he would there first fail on extraordinary exer- 
tion. A horse, however, is not returnable, although he should spring a 
curb five minutes after the purchase; for it is done in a moment, and 
does not necessarily indicate any previous unsoundness or weakness of 
the part. 
Cutting, as rendering a horse liable to serious injury of the legs, and 
indicating that he is either weak, or has an awkwardness of gait incon- 
sistent with safety, produces, rather than this, unsoundness. Many 
horses go lame for a considerable period after cutting themselves severe- 
ly ; and others have dropped from the sudden agony, and endangered 
themselves and their riders. As some doubt, however, exists on this 
subject, and as it is a very material objection to a horse, cutting, when 
evident, should have its serious consequences provided against by a spe- 
cial warranty. 
Enlarged Glands. — The enlargement of the glands under the jaw has 
not been so much considered as it ought to have been in our estimate 
of the soundness of the horse. Simple catarrh will occasionally, and 
severe affection of the chest will generally, be accompanied by swelling 
of these glands, which does not subside for a considerable time after the 
cold or fever has apparently been cured. To slight enlargements of the 
glands under the jaw much attention need not be paid ; but if they are 
of considerable size, and especially if they are tender, and the glands at 
the root of the ear partake of the enlargement, and the membrane of 
the nose is redder than it should be, we should hesitate in pronouncing 
that horse to be sound. We must consider the swelling as a symptom 
of disease. 
Enlarged llofk. — A horse with enlarged hock is unsound, the structure 
of this complicated joint being so materially affected that, although 
the horse may appear for a considerable time to be capable of ordinary 
work, he will occasionally fail even in that, and a few days’ hard work 
will always lame him. 
'flic Eyes. — That inflammation of the eye of the horse which usually 
terminates in blindness of one or both eyes, has the peculiar character 
of receding or disappearing for a time, once or twice, or thrice, before 
it fully runs its course. The eye, after an attack of inflammation, re- 
gains so nearly its former natural brilliancy, that a person even well ac- 
quainted with horses will not always recognize the traces of former dis- 
ease. After a time, however, the inflammation returns, and the result 
is inevitable. A horse that has had one attack of this complaint is long 
afterward unsound, however perfect the eye may seem to be, because he 
carries about with him a disease that will probably again break out, and 
eventually destroy the sight. Whether, therefore, he may be rejected 
or not depends on the possibility of proving an attack of inflammation 
