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.