1 62 The Management of Light Horses 



the horses are good the dealer does not give insignificant prices 

 for them. 1 have seen many a dealer give from ;^250 to ^300 

 for a horse, and then he was to " make ". The breeder will find 

 that the dealer is a very good friend to him if he breeds good 

 horses. The dealer is the last man to forget where he has 

 bought a good young horse or where he has seen a promising 

 brood mare, and I know of many cases in which it is useless to 

 visit a breeder until his " pet " dealer has been through the horses, 

 and equally useless afterwards, for he is about certain to have 

 bought them. 



There are some men who have a habit of asking unreason- 

 able prices just on the ofifchance of getting them. It is a very 

 unwise policy, and sends away many a would-be customer. The 

 breeder is not the only one who errs in this direction, but he 

 frequently does err, and through ignorance of values. " I can't 

 get it if I don't ask it," I once heard a man say when tackled 

 on the subject of asking an exorbitant price for a hunter. 

 This is quite true, but it is scarcely the way to inspire confidence 

 in a customer. I once went to look at a hunter in a farmer's 

 hands. He was four years old, and younger than I wanted, but 

 I thought he was a serviceable horse, and I would put up with 

 that. I rode the horse, liked him well enough, and asked his 

 price. I was told ;i^200. I thanked his owner and went away 

 without bidding. If he had asked me ^100 I should have 

 bought him. As it was he had to keep him for many weeks 

 and then he did not make the money I should have given 

 him. 



The oldfashioned Horse Fair is practically a thing of the 

 past nowadays. It has been slowly but surely going down the 

 hill for the last quarter of a century. The multiplication of 

 Horse Shows have had much to do with this. Then most big 

 dealers have agents in all the principal breeding districts, 

 and these are generally pretty well cleared of horses fit to go 

 to work. Another powerful rival of the old Horse Fair is the 

 Auction Mart, which is either a very good or a very moderate 

 market for the breeder as the case may be. If the latter is an 

 unknown man, and his horses are unknown, it may easily happen 

 that only a relatively poor price will be realized. If, on the con- 

 trary, they are well-known horses with a high reputation and a 

 good record, and are the property of a well-known man, quite 

 the opposite will most likely result. Of course there are excep- 

 tions in all cases. 



The horses, the marketing of which have so far been under 



