142 THE PERFECT HORSE. 



future colt ; the law being that the foal will resemble 

 the parents, or some one of the less remote grand- 

 parents. The reader perceives how practical, in this 

 connection, is the benefit derived from pedigrees in 

 breeding. Without them the uncertainty of what the 

 get will be is increased twenty per cent. I do not say 

 I would not buy a mare for brooding-purposes whose 

 pedigree was not ascertained; for I would: but I do 

 say, that, with the pedigree well verified, I should 

 regard her worth considerably more money for the pur- 

 pose for which I was buying her than without one. 

 But the purchaser should always remember that the 

 animal herself is a better assistance to his judgment than 

 any pedigree, and that no mare should be bought for 

 brooding-purposes because of her pedigree. The horse 

 first, and the pedigree too, is the way to have it stand 

 in your mind. Eemember, also, that pedigrees can be 

 created. It is astonishing how long a pedigree can be 

 got up at a moment's notice. Only let the horse-jockey 

 ascertain what blood you prefer, and he will lead you 

 out a daughter of that family in a minute ! I do not 

 wish to suggest that horse-dealers are less honest than 

 dealers in other commodities; for men of peculiar moral 

 idiosyncrasies find a playful exercise of their powers in 

 commercial transactions : but I do say that I have met 

 men — dealers in horses — who did not seem to have a 

 full realizing sense of the apostolic injunction, " Lie not 

 at all," especially in this matter of pedigrees, about 

 which more lapses of memory probably occur than any 



