24-t The Management and Treatment of the Horse, 



appearance, but dealers take care before showing them 

 to temporarily rouse them from their lethargic condition 

 by what they term " figing " them, that is by forcing 

 ginger up the anus, putting salt into its mouth, and an 

 application of the whip. Go through a dealer's stable, 

 and as soon as the voice of the dealer is heard all the 

 horses are on the alert; they know he does not carry his 

 whip in his hand for nothing. Who ever saw a dealer 

 without a whip ? No, without his whip he would be 

 like a pump without a handle. No sooner does the 

 master or one of his men enter the stable than the horses 

 begin to raise their tails, champ at their hips, and assume 

 all the appearance of good health and spirits ; in the 

 meantime the dealers use all their claptrap eloquence to 

 induce the novice to believe the animals are the best in 

 Britain, and they are too often successful in inducing 

 their intended victim into that belief. The writer once 

 heard one of these men say " That he did not mind what 

 they called him as long as they did not call him a fool, 

 for this world was made up of sharps and flats, and as 

 there were always two flats born to one sharp, there was 

 always a good stock to work upon, and there was no 

 credit in doing a fool." There are so many gentlemen 

 who fancy that they do know what a horse is, and think 

 they cannot be done, who are quite disgusted when they 

 get an animal from one of the professional copers which 

 turns out a rank screw. When I use the term dealers 

 in such a sweeping condemnation, I would have my 

 readers understand that I refer to copers at fairs, and the 

 advertising gentry ; that there are honest dealers is 

 without a doubt, but they are men who have a name at 



