458 OHAPTEE 61. 



Action must be light, easy, free, and straight. Reject a horse that 

 crosses his legs in walking or trotting. He will be unsafe. Freedom, 

 power to move easily along, is the great point. 



A good walk is absolutely essential. Reject a horse that does not walk 

 well ; he is never pleasant to ride. If a horse walks well, he will proba- 

 bly trot well but a horse may trot well without walking well. 



To ascertain whether the action is true and straight, stand behind the 

 horse as he walks and trots away from you. You cannot ascertain this 

 important point by standing on the side. 



Never omit to stand behind a horse as he walks away. 



A good sloping shoulder is an important item in a riding horse, but 

 bad action may co-exist with a good shoulder ; and, vice versd, good free 

 action may co-exist with a somewhat straight shoulder. 



Reject a horse which is straight in the shoulder and long from the 

 point of the shoulder to the upper part of the forearm. This formation 

 places fore-legs too much under the horse, and makes him unsafe to ride. 



You may have a plain horse, even if all the above very apparent defects 

 are absent, but you will, at least, have a serviceable one if in addition 

 found sound on veterinary examination. 



Having first of all kept clear of all absolute defects such as the above, 

 then select your horses for the presence of good, serviceable, and hand- 

 some points, and easy, free, graceful carriage. 



But, I repeat, begin by rejection for any one positively bad defect. 

 The greatest strength of a chain is limited by the strength of its weakest 

 link. 



In purchasing Horses, it is a great point not to lose time. // you see 

 any one radical defect, reject the Horse at once. The Dealer will, of 

 course, try and persuade you to do otherwise, and will call your attention 

 to some very good point or points in the really defective animal. 



Do not lose time. A dealer, if you are a stranger to him, will probably 

 bring out and try and palm off on you his inferior horses. But if you 

 are quick in seeing bad points, and at once reject defective animals, he 

 will soon find it necessary to show you his best horses. 



CHAPTER 6i. 



TEIB LAW OF WARRANTY. 



938. Uncertainty of the Law. 



The English law of Warranty is in a very unsettled and unsatisfactory 

 state. No man, who gives a warranty, is safe. The seeds of disease or 

 lameness may be legally traced back almost any length of time. On the 

 other hand, a bona fide purchaser even in cases of downright fraud often 

 finds the greatest difficulty in recovering his money from an unscrupulous 

 dealer. 



In almost every case some Veterinary Surgeon may be found to give 

 his professional opinion that tl}e cause of unsoundness may have been anr| 



