336 
ON THE LAWS OF WARRANTY, 
There is another matter which I should like to mention 
before leaving the subject, and that is the great discrepancy 
between the certificates of men examining horses either the 
same day or the next. It has fallen to my lot to have to 
present several valuable horses for examination to the more 
eminent of the metropolitan practitioners, yet never in a 
single instance have I received unanimous opinions when 
three or four or more have examined the horse on the same 
day. One horse I had examined by five veterinarians on the 
same day. One condemned him as a slight whistler, nothing 
more; another as lame, with navicular disease of the near 
fore foot, nothing else; a third lame, with incipient bone 
spavin, nothing else; a fourth, a confirmed roarer ; while the 
fifth passed him perfectly sound. I have not introduced this 
to throw discredit on the London men, because we never send 
a horse there until he has been seen by the locals, whose 
decisions vary quite as much as the others, but to show that 
if we find fault with lawyers they would with us, and, per¬ 
haps, with a good reason. I believe that in many cases 
the unsoundness exists in the mind of the purchaser, who, 
finding he has given too large a sum for the animal, and 
in hopes of recovering back a good proportion of the money, 
enters an action at law for some fancied defect in his bargain, 
and oftentimes knowing the vendor has a prejudice against 
law, fairly bounces” him out of the sum he demands, 
when, perhaps, this individual horse was really what the 
seller represented him to be. Often a horse is turned up” 
because the buyer’s friends do not like him; and as every 
Englishman has his own particular notions about a horse’s 
points, the value of the animal materially decreases in the 
estimation of the vendor, and especially when accidentally or 
otherwise the seller has omitted to fee the groom, Avho brings 
all his ignorance and cunning to bear in finding out something 
against him. Having extended these remarks to a greater 
extent than I at first intended, I will only add that the 
sooner a move is made in altering and carrying out the law 
of warranty, the better it will be for us, for breeders, dealers, 
and the country at large. 
