When a horse is brought in for sale a sign stating how the horse is to be sold is immediately exposed on the auctioneer’s rostrum. There are six of these signs, viz., (1) Sound. (2) Serviceably sound. (3) Wind and work. (4) Work only. (5) Legs go. (6) At the halter.
Terms on all sales are strictly cash.
All horses must be examined and tried by purchaser as soon as bought, and must be tried and accepted on the premises during the day of sale, as all guarantees on horses expire with that day, and on delivery of the horse. In no case can a horse be rejected except on the day of sale, unless sold as sound and proved to be a cribber, heavey, crampy or lame. If proven to have any of the four named faults, the purchaser shall have until 9 A. M. the following day to reject the horse. Purchasers failing to try and examine horses within the required time forfeit all right of rejecting them, and no horse sold to wind and work shall be rejected for any cause except he proves windy or will not work.
Should any question arise for adjustment between buyer and seller the matter shall be referred to three members of the Union Stock-yards Horse Exchange, the decision of a majority of whom shall be final.
Any person found guilty of doping a horse to hide the fact that the animal is windy, heavey, crampy, cribby or lame, shall be expelled from the market and prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
The following is an explanation of the principal rules governing sales in the auction ring:
1. Sound.—A horse sold as sound must be perfectly sound in every way.
2. Serviceably Sound.—Must be virtually a sound horse. His wind and eyes must be good: he must not be lame or sore in any way, but sound, barring slight blemishes, and these blemishes must not constitute any unsoundness. A spot or streak in the eye, which does not affect the sight, will be considered serviceably sound as long as the pupil of the eye is good. A further explanation is given as follows by F. J. Berry & Co., a well-known horse commission firm at the Chicago Stock-yards: “Blemishes must be nothing more than splints; the horse may be slightly puffed and a little rounding on the curb joint, but he must not have a bad-looking curb, and must not have a brand. He may be a little cut in the knees, but he must not stand over on the knees or ankles. He may have a little puff on the outside of the hock, but he must not have thoroughpin, or boggy-hock, ringbone, or jack, although he may naturally be a little coarse jointed; but the front part of the hocks inside must not be puffed. He may have slight scars or wire marks but these must not cause any deformity of the body, legs or feet, and must be nothing more than a slight scar. He must not have any scar from fistula or poll-evil. He must not have a hip down, and if one hip is a trifle lower than the other, it must be natural, and not a deformity like the cap of a hip down. He must not have side-bone, or any bad blemishes that deteriorate his value more than a trifle, but must be sound, barring slight blemishes that do not hurt him or change his value very little, and in no case more than the above-mentioned blemishes. Car bruises must be of a temporary nature.”
3. Wind and Work.—A horse sold to wind and work, must have good wind and be a good worker, and not a cribber, but everything else goes with him.