THE EXAMINATION OF HORSES. 
107 
on which we set out, viz. that the dealers appear to have some 
reason for complaining* of the usage they meet with from some of 
us veterinarians. They ask us, what have we to do with price % 
Our duty is, or ought to be, say they, confined to soundness and 
to aye: —we may extend it to “make and shape,’ 1 and to action; 
but certainly not , contends the dealer, to price. As far as the 
real and intrinsic value of the young* untried animal is the consi¬ 
deration, we apprehend that neither the dealer nor the veterina¬ 
rian can put the purchaser in the true possession of it: the raw, 
half-trained “ young* one,' 1 is to its purchaser a perfect “ lottery 
ticket:” it may turn out a“ trump,” or it may prove a luckless com¬ 
modity, dear at any price. Albeit, of the two, the dealer certainly 
can better set a value on the animal, than the veterinarian: he 
knows what it cost; he has had more or less trial of it; and he 
is best acquainted with the current or market price of such an 
article. Possessing these advantages, the dealer, as vender, is 
assuredly the proper person to fix the price; and we must add 
that, in our opinion, that veterinarian steps out of his road, who, 
from so cursory an examination, pretends to set one for him. 
And even could the veterinary practitioner (from certain circum¬ 
stances having fortuitously come to his knowledge concerning 
th*? animal in question) estimate his value better than the dealer, 
still should we contend, that between man and man, between 
vender and purchaser, it is a part of the affair concerning which 
he certainly ought to have nothing to say. 
We never felt more inwardly gratified than on one occasion 
that we chanced to be at the elbow of a very clever experienced 
practitioner in our art, at the time he was examining a horse for 
a gentleman on account of soundness, on hearing him reply, in 
answer to a question from his employer, as to the value or price 
of the animal—“It is quite out of my power, sir, from so 
cursory a knowledge of your horse, to form any estimate of his 
value: but, even though I knew how* much he was worth to a 
farthing, 1 must be excused from satisfying your inquiries on 
tlcat head, since price is an affair which in nowise concerns me ;— 
it lies with yourself only, and the dealer." 
A living animal is that sort of merchandize upon which a 
