232 A DIFFICULTY. 



THE PURCHASE OF HORSES. 



If you wish to offend nine-tenths of the persons who 

 can ride, drive, or manage a horse moderately well, tell 

 them that they are not sufficiently good judges of 

 horses to purchase them in the open mart. Still, if one 

 is determined strictly to adhere to the truth, one cannot 

 fall short of this. 



The question next comes, whom can a man trust to 

 buy for him ? And here, no doubt, there arises some 

 difficulty. There are, however, dealers of high stand- 

 ing and great respectability, both in London and the 

 provinces, who, if treated in the right way, i.e., in a 

 liberal and honest manner, can be trusted to fulfil the 

 duties of respectable and honest tradesmen. 



Many there are, doubtless, who fully merit the cha- 

 racter usually accorded to horse-dealers in years gone 

 by, but these soon become rightly estimated by the 

 public in these days of competition. 



Of all men in the world from whom to purchase a 

 horse, common sense must necessarily point to the 

 respectable dealer, for the following reasons : — In the 

 first place, the superior judgment of the dealer selects 

 certain horses, out of the numbers brought within his 

 reach, as being peculiarly adapted from action, forma- 

 tion, performances, &c, for certain defined purposes. 

 Therefore, in the first place, the purchaser has the ad- 

 vantage of the judgment of the dealer as to the horse's 

 fitness for a certain purpose ; and in the second place, 



