OBSERVATIONS ON SOUNDNESS. 
3 
the meaning of this ?—not what is presumed to be the true 
definition of warranty as to soundness. 1 find from ex¬ 
perience that those who have horses to sell say they are 
sounds and always have been sound so far as their knowledge 
goes. These people refer only to the fact of the animals 
being free from lameness. The majority of the men with 
whom I have to examine believe if a horse is free from lame¬ 
ness that he is necessarily sounds and 1 have no doubt this 
opinion is almost universal. 1 do not include the respectable 
class of horse-dealers, but the men who breed and rear horses 
for sale ; at least I am justified in coming to this conclusion 
so far as the people in my district are concerned. It is a 
very common expression to hear My horse is as sound as a 
trout^’—or as sound as a belk^—and when the horse is 
inspected professionally, and the certificate merely states 
that the animal just examined is usefully sound only, a 
murmur of disapprobation is manifested on the part of the 
seller. 
There are so many definitions furnished as to what a sound 
horse is by non-professional men, that we need not wonder 
at people being puzzled in the course of their dealings with 
horse-men. We have first, sound horses—secondly, use¬ 
fully sound—then, practically sound, constitutionally sound, 
naturally useful, and so on, most of which expressions are 
unsatisfactory to the generality of purchasers; and so long 
as there are a majority of unsound horses in the market, so 
must we in our examinations arrange our certificates so as 
to suit each individual case. 
Some of the definitions of soundness having been given 
by me, it will be as well now to proceed to describe the pro¬ 
per method of examining a horse as to soundness. It may 
not be out of place if I mention that Ireland has been my 
residence for the last thirteen years and upwards ; that in this 
country it is usual to employ veterinary surgeons for the 
purpose of examining horses as to their soundness previous 
to being paid for by the purchaser, which naturally gives the 
veterinarian a fair opportunity of becoming aufait at this kind 
of horse-practice, and in the course of a year a great number 
of animals pass his inspection. I have been sent for specially 
to Wexford, Kilkenny, Limerick, Cork, Carlow, Kildare, and 
Dublin, for the purpose of testing the soundness of horses 
which have been purchased by my clients. - I have had 
occasion also to attend at many of the fairs for the same pur¬ 
pose, and thus I have had frequent opportunities of learning 
the various devices had recourse to for blinking or hoodwinking 
those concerned about the purchase of animals, as well as 
