The Horse 99 



have, though you are not yet a gentleman ; you 

 will, of course, look to his head, his withers, legs 

 and other points, but never buy a horse at any 

 price that has not plenty of belly ; no horse that 

 has not belly is ever a good feeder, and a horse that 

 a'n't a good feeder, can't be a good horse ; never 

 buy a horse that is drawn up in the belly behind ; 

 a horse of that description can't feed, and can never 

 carry sixteen stone. 



" When you have got such a horse be proud of 

 it — as I dare say you are of the one you have 

 now — and wherever you go swear there a'n't 

 another to match it in the country, and if anybody 

 gives you the lie, take him by the nose and tweak 

 it off, just as you would do if anybody were to 

 speak ill of your lady, or, for want of her, of your 

 housekeeper. Take care of your horse, as you 

 would of the apple of your eye — I am sure I would 

 if I were a gentleman, which I don't ever expect 

 to be, and hardly wish, seeing as how I am sixty- 

 nine, and am rather too old to ride — yes, cherish 

 and take care of your horse as perhaps the best 

 friend you have in the world ; for, after all, who 

 will carry you through thick and thin as your horse 

 will ? not your gentlemen friends, I warrant, nor 

 your housekeeper, nor your upper servants, male or 

 female ; perhaps your lady would, that is, if she is 

 a whopper, and one of the right sort ; the others 

 would be more likely to take up mud and pelt you 

 with it, if they saw you in trouble, than to help 

 you. So take care of your horse, and feed him 

 every day with your own hands ; give him three- 

 quarters of a peck of corn each day, mixed up with 

 a little hay-chafF, and allow him besides one hundred- 

 weight of hay in the course of a week ; some say 

 that the hay should be hardland hay, because it is 



