The Sporting Dictionary and Rural Repository, Volume 2 (of 2): Of General Information upon Every Subject Appertaining to the Sports of the FieldTaplin, William
Science
The Sporting Dictionary and Rural Repository, Volume 2 (of 2): Of General Information upon Every Subject Appertaining to the Sports of the Field
Taplin, William
Hunting -- Dictionaries; Sports -- Dictionaries
SORREL—is the colour by which certain horses are distinguished, and
might, without any degree of inconsistency, be termed a _red chesnut_:
they are a colour nearly between a bright bay and a yellow chesnut,
giving and taking a tinge or shade either way, having invariably manes
and tails red or white. When tolerably well bred, of handsome shape,
make, and symmetry, with full silver mane and tail, they are majestic,
commanding figures, and are, in general, secured as cavalry chargers for
field officers, when they are to be obtained of size and strength for
the purpose.
SOUNDNESS,—in a horse, is of such extensive meaning, and infinite
importance to the sporting world, to dealers in horses, and to
individual purchasers, that it is exceedingly necessary some criterion
should be fixed by which its present _undefined_ meaning should be more
properly and more equitably understood; for want of which, more
litigation is carried into the Courts at Westminster for the emolument
and amusement of the Gentlemen of the Long-robe, than any other subject
whatever, the constantly increasing evil of _crim. con._ excepted. The
general custom between BUYER and SELLER is precisely this; the horse is
sold with or without certain conditions in respect to SOUNDNESS, and
this is done by what is called a WARRANTY on the part of the seller
thus: "He is warranted perfectly _sound_, free from _vice_ or _blemish_,
and quiet to _ride_, or _draw_," as either or both the latter may happen
to be. A horse sold without a warranty, and _taken as he is_, is then
purchased (and the purchase abided by) with all faults, and cannot be
returned under any plea whatever, unless he can be proved to have been
glandered at the time of purchase, in which state no horse can be
_legally_ sold.
In the strict and equitable sense of the word, a horse, to be _perfectly
sound_, should be _completely perfect_: he should have no obstruction to
_sight_, no impediment to _action_, but be in an acknowledged slate of
natural purity; neither _diseased_, _lame_, _blind_, or _broken-winded_:
he should not only be free from impediment at the time of sale, but
_bona fide_ never known to have been otherwise. Some there are who
support a different opinion, and conceive (or pretend so to do) that a
horse may be sold warranted perfectly sound, after he has recovered from
a palpable lameness: those should recollect, that such horse is always
liable to a relapse, or repetition of the injury; and whoever becomes so
obstinate as to defend an action brought under such circumstance, will
certainly feel the mortification of having a VERDICT pronounced
_against_ him, so soon as sufficient evidence has proved such horse to
have been _lame_ at any time whatever _previous_ to the purchase.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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