HOW TO KNOW HIM. 6 



ill the selection of animals from which to breed, or for 

 general or special use. Nothing is more preposterous 

 than the idea which seems to be current, that there is 

 something mysterious in the art of buying and selling 

 horses wisely, which has been hidden from the average 

 farmer or gentleman, and revealed only to jockeys, 

 grooms, and stable-boys. It is about time for the pub- 

 lic to realize that the organization of the horse is too 

 high, and his physical anatomy too intricate, for the 

 ignorant and drunken to understand ; and that the gen- 

 tleman's companion, as I hold the horse to be, can best 

 be understood and managed by gentlemen. I will now 

 call your attention to certain elements and characteris- 

 tics of the horse which the perfect animal must have. 



The first, and to my mind the most essential, point to 

 be observed touching the horse, is his 



TEMPERAMENT. 



I ask you to distinguish temperament and temper. 

 The temper is an accident, the result of education or 

 treatment ; in rare instances, of birth : but the tempera- 

 ment is a law oi' mode of being affecting and modifying 

 the physical structure and the nervous forces. The 

 temper can be modified or changed : the vicious can be 

 made amiable ; and the amiable, vicious. Not so with 

 the temperament: that is fixed at birth, and remains im- 

 mutable, dominating over the entire organization. Diet, 

 training, treatment in sickness, — these, and much beside, 

 are suggested to the thoughtful mind by the tempera- 



