EYES
.—The state of the EYES in every horse constitutes so much of the value and excellence in respect to their good or bad formation, that proper, nay extreme, circumspection ought to be used in the examination previous to purchase. The best and most experienced judges of horses are sometimes seriously disappointed, and not unfrequently deceived, in a superficial survey, and too hasty decision: in fact, there is no point of the ANIMAL upon the merits of which (in a variety of instances) it is so difficult to form an accurate, at least an infallible, opinion as upon the parts before us. If at first sight you are attracted by their bright, bold, prominent appearance, and observe they are sufficiently clear and transparent to reflect your own figure in the eye as you stand before it, and the horse neither winks, blinks, or rolls the orbs of the eyes about, as if feeling for the light when brought out of the stable, there is then every well-founded reason to believe they are not only safe, but PERFECTLY GOOD. On the contrary, when the EYE appears flat, as if sunk in its orbit, with a palpable vacuum round the orb, between it and the eye-lid, it is a very unfavourable indication; particularly if there should be no defluxion (or inflammatory discharge) from the eye, to justify the idea of a temporary injury having been sustained by a BLOW, BITE, or some such accident, neither to be foreseen or guarded against. If there is a palpable indentation above the orbs, and a wrinkled contraction of the eye-lids towards the forehead, they are invariable symptoms, or certain signs, of impending danger, and the subject cannot be ventured upon without a very great probability of certain loss when he is again offered for sale.
A small pig-eye should be likewise carefully avoided, as they are seldom to be depended upon; the subject is frequently addicted to starting, and the future state of the eye in general doubtful. A cloudy muddiness within the outer humour of the eye, (giving it an opaque appearance,) or a milky thickening of the surface, denote present defect, and great probability of approaching blindness. It becomes, therefore, in all cases of doubt, a matter of self-preservation, to have in memory this admonition, that it will be more advantageous (evidently more prudent) to reject an object of impurity and partial attraction, than to purchase in haste, and "repent at leisure."