SELECTING A MOUNT. 33 



buying him, unless you can command the aid of a 

 competent and disinterested judge. Do not take the onus 

 upon yourself, for I grieve to say there is not any species 

 of trade in which there is so much dishonesty and such a 

 terrible amount of deception. If, however, you should 

 happen to be thrown altogether upon your own resources, 

 act thus (or get some one to do it for you) : Go to the 

 most respectable of the trade ; it is your best safeguard. 

 In former times, men like Scott and Anderson were so far 

 above suspicion that the veriest tyro was safe in their 

 hands. There are others of the present day of whom the 

 same may be said. Find out one of them, tell him to 

 what price you can go, and see the best that he can give 

 you for it. If he happens to have what pleases you in 

 price and appearance, get the animal examined by a 

 reliable veterinary surgeon, and ask for a trial. Buy 

 nothing without it. If refused, rest assured that some- 

 t];iing is amiss. Dealers and grooms, even the honestest of 

 them, have ways of their own for pulling horses together, 

 and making them step up and show themselves : ay, and 

 for covering their defects, too, of which ladies, as a rule, 

 know nothing at all. Therefore, when you fix upon an 

 animal, get him ridden by a friend on whose judgment you 

 can rely, — not in a hurried manner, in the dealer's yard, 

 but for an hour or so upon the road — and also for a turn 

 upon grass. A correct opinion can then, but not otherwise, 

 be formed concerning his paces, and the amount of training 

 and discipline to which he has been subjected. 



A lady's horse should, as I have said, possess perfect 



D 



