TRICKS OF DEALERS. 57 



in the value through development of some disease 

 not apparent at the time of purchase. The risks 

 attending a dealer in live stock are at least fifty per 

 cent, greater than those incurred in ordinary com- 

 mercial transactions. To make up for all these 

 losses it is essential for the horse dealer to compen- 

 sate himself. Consequently, it is necessary for him 

 to seek a good return for his outlay. The calling 

 of a horse dealer demands a lot of hard work, a 

 considerable amount of capital, and the exercise of 

 sound judgment. Without these, and the posses- 

 sion of a large amount of tact, it is useless for any 

 man to embark upon this business with any hope 

 of success. If a man places himself in the hands of 

 a dealer of repute, and is willing to pay a fair price 

 for an animal, the dealer will, in ninety-nine cases 

 out of a hundred, give him satisfaction. A distinc- 

 tion must be made between the dealer of repute and 

 the one without such. The latter are men without 

 principle and without capital, and for any man to 

 purchase a horse from a man of this class, is 

 simply foolhardiness. 



Low-class dealers will offer a three-year-old to 

 a customer as being four, or a four-year-old as 

 being five, frequently adding the prefix or suffix 

 " rising " or " off," in order to confuse the intending 



