USE AND SHOW. 185 



good horseman to buy a four-year-old and make him a 

 hunter ; if he is lucky as well as skilful, the animal at six 

 or seven years old will be worth a good deal more than 

 he was at four. But this only applies to hunters. A 

 hack must not be knocked about much before he is five 

 years old, and he is then worth as much as he ever will 

 be. A harness horse the same. A dealer can make a 

 profit on them by buying them from the breeder ; but no 

 gentleman can do so in buying them from the dealer. 

 Nor could he do so if he went to the breeders direct, 

 except in very isolated instances. A man who wants 

 work done at a moderate price need not risk a fortune ; 

 but he must be content to put up with some shortcomings 

 in his stud, and must cast all idea of show and appearance 

 to the winds. His harness horses may be of the " useful" 

 description of the sort described above. His hack may 

 be hardly fitted for Rotten-row. It may be plain, 

 possessed of a bad mouth, even perhaps of " a temper/' 

 and yet be able to get over fourteen miles in an hour, and 

 to do this, or something like it, three days in the week or 

 more. His hunters will not be beauties ; they will be 

 blemished, or possessed of qualifications which would 

 cause them to be rejected by many men. They need by 

 no means be sound from a dealer's or vet.'s point of view, 

 and may yet do an infinity of work across country. 

 Indeed, many of the most expensive hunters belonging 

 to the greatest " swells " in the kingdom would cut but 

 an indifferent figure if run out upon stones the morning 

 after a hard day's hunting under a professional eye. 

 What, then, can be expected of forty and fifty pounders ? 

 The great discovery of modern times, as far as hunters 

 are concerned, is that of clipping. Although many 

 horses are clipped and singed now, who would not have 



