118 STALLIONS, MARES AND GELDINGS. 



Should a purchaser require a horse of a certain size a 

 dealer can often make his animal, if undersized, apparently 

 accommodate himself to the demands of the occasion by 

 placing him on the higher part of sloping ground, or vice 

 versa when oversized. Many tricks are practised to make 

 a horse flinch when the standard is put over his withers, 

 and the hoofs are often pared down to such an extent that 

 the horse would be lamed if used in this condition. Then 

 again, after being physicked, the horse is fastened with his 

 head tied high up and is not allowed to lie down for a week 

 or ten days. 



STALLIONS, MARES AND GELDINGS. 



With the exception of stallions, which are rarely used, 

 there exists considerable diversity of opinion regarding sex, 

 but the balance of preference seems to be in favor of geld- 

 ings. The writer has at the present time in his stable a 

 stallion, a mare and a gelding, any of which are as pleasant 

 to ride or drive as the average horse. Still there are many 

 owners whose experience has taught them that, taken as a 

 class, geldings prove the most serviceable and safest, as the 

 most vicious representatives of the latter class are never so 

 unmanageable as a violent stallion or mare. 



Stanley Harris, in " Old Coaching Days," page 264, in- 

 troduces a road jingle expressing the uncertain disposition 

 of mares as follows : 



" I have referred principally to the feminine gender in the above re- 

 marks, as I believe, in nine cases out of ten, if there was a restive, vicious 

 animal in the team, it turned out to be a mare, verifying the saying of the 

 Irish postboy, when the gentleman in the post chaise complained of the 

 pair: 



Says Paddy, 'These mares are not old offinders, 



But you can't place no reliance on feminine ginders.' " 



