32 RIDING FOR LADIES. 



CHAPTER IV. 



SELECTING A MOUNT. 



The purchase of a saddle horse requires a grave amount of 

 consideration, especially as ignorant persons are apt to 

 think that " anything will do for a beginner." Every 

 second person to whom you make known your requirement 

 will be ready to put you in the way of securing " the nicest 

 little horse in the world." Gentlemen friends from every 

 quarter will have something cut and dried for you to invest 

 in ; amateur dealers will persecute you ; professionals will 

 harry your life out ; John, the coachman, will make himself 

 odious by recommending some highly undesirable animal 

 and stolidly determining to see no virtue in any other. 

 You won't know at first what his object can possibly be, 

 but by-and-by you will find out that he and the owner of 

 the property have come to an agreement concerning a 

 certain little " tip " to be made over to John, in the event of 

 his inducing you to become the possessor of the decided 

 acquisition in horseflesh on which his own affections are 

 set ; and then, when you decline to be victimised, John will 

 assume a stony appearance, and obstinately refuse to be 

 interested in any other purchase. 

 You should be slow to select a horse, with a view to 



