30 THE POCKET AND THE STUD. 



been asked to take him back, in offering fifty 

 as the maximum price in his then condition ; 

 though no doubt had such a case occurred, the 

 owner would have set down the dealer as a 

 rogue for making such an offer. Now none of 

 this falling off in point of condition arose from 

 any ill usage or intended unkindness, but solely 

 from want of judicious management. He had 

 come from a stable where all was done right; 

 he went to one where all was done wrong. It 

 would have been uncourteous in me to say so 

 on seeing him : indeed, I conceived it to be un- 

 necessary, considering the horse told this pretty 

 plainly himself. Of some of his master's peculiari- 

 ties in managing horses at work I shall, perhaps, 

 have occasion to speak by way of elucidation of 

 some other matters ; I have said enough for my 

 purpose here. 



I have said that every horse will suffer from 

 coming from a good master to a bad one : this is 

 indisputable. I have also added that most horses 

 will improve by coming to a better home than the 

 one they may have left; but the inexperienced 

 purchaser must bear in mind that better treatment 

 does not always mean increased feeding or dimi- 

 nished work : that must, of course, depend on the 

 quantity the animal had had of each. If the feed- 

 ing had not been in adequate proportion to the 

 exertion, the horse would improve either by in- 



