40 THE POCKET AND THE STUD. 



they (generally speaking) as to the qualifications 

 of their horses ; and as much more as the man of 

 fortune and family would lose in the estimation of 

 others than the common man by coarse and vulgar 

 habits, or by the want of refined ones, so much 

 more will first-class horses lose in value than ordi- 

 nary ones, from wanting those niceties in certain 

 qualifications expected from superior animals. A 

 boring, heavy, dead mouth, or a light, pleasant 

 one, will, in a horse of equal pretensions as to 

 breed, shape, beauty just make the difference 

 between two hundred and fifty to carry the master 

 of the pack, or eighty to carry the whip, though 

 both are equally good horses, and, in other re- 

 spects, equally good hunters. 



If a man who is not a good judge of horses, or 

 a good horseman, thinks he can bring forth in a 

 young one all the qualifications I allude to as to 

 action, carriage, mouth, fencing, and temper, let 

 him buy him : should he succeed, I shall willingly 

 allow I was wrong in attempting to check his 

 ardour in purchasing ; but as I conceive there is 

 quite a possibility that he will fail, if he does, there 

 is also a possibility that he may regret not taking 

 my advice ; which is, to such a man, " Do not 

 buy young horses yourself for yourself; or, if you 

 get one, do not attempt to teach him anything 

 yourself for yourself, or for anybody else" I do 

 not mean to say that it is at all impossible for a 

 man who may be by no means a good horseman 



