IN SEARCH OF A HORSE. 171 



rally, too late ! It is desirable, before money is 

 paid, to put some general questions as to the history 

 of the horse — not so much to ascertain that he is 

 not stolen property, though even that suspicion is 

 not always to be laid aside, but to secure the means 

 of tracing any disease that may show itself in the 

 buyer's stables. It is a strange fact, but not less 

 true than strange, if dealers are to be credited, that 

 no horse is ever ill before he is transferred by sale ! 

 The first appearance of every disorder with which 

 veterinarians are familiar, is the second or third day 

 after the animal is comfortably housed in a new 

 stable. Now, after making the most liberal allow- 

 ances for change of domicile, I cannot understand 

 this horse-dealing system of pathology ; and so far 

 am I from being convinced of its being sound in 

 principle, that I have always provided myself with 

 the means of following up my horse's history. Some- 

 times I have discovered that even in this trifling 

 matter, the inveterate habit of lying has betrayed 

 itself. But deception here is of little moment : it 

 tells as well with a jury, that the previous history of 

 the animal has been studiously concealed, as if the 

 last year of his existence had been spent at the col- 



