260 DANGERS. 



A really good horse, like a really good servant, seldom passes 

 through many hands. Employers who are fortunate enough to 

 get them, keep them if they can. Horses with some latent 

 defect, vice, or weakness, are frequently in the market, and it is 

 wise to avoid horses that have passed through many hands. Such 

 horses are often sold for defects that yon may not discover in a 

 week, or even a month's trial. For instance some horses do well 

 in the summer and not in the winter. Some have weak digestive 

 organs, that leave them liable to dangerous fits of colic ■ or 

 inflammation. A horse that is all right in low condition 

 with regular hard work, often develops some serious vice after 

 rest and indulgence. On the other hand he may stand light 

 work very well, and break down with hard work. He may be 

 sold because he is known to have come in contact with a 

 glandered horse, or to inherit bUndness, ringbone, or other 

 disease, not suspected from his outward appearance. Or he may 

 have recovered from some disease of the brain to which he will 

 again be liable. 



G29. — Another way to obtain a horse is to buy one that you 

 have had opportunities to know all about, and that you know to 

 be sold for some reasons not connected with unsoundness or vice. 

 Beware of touters here, and do not be influenced by conversations 

 you overhear at an auction, or by the zealous eulogies of recently 

 introduced friends. 



630. — A man who is himself a good horseman, and has 

 regular work that can be done by .a young horse, may buy or get 

 a dealer to buy for him, an unbroken colt, of the stamp he wants, 

 and place it in the hands of a skilful good tempered horse 

 breaker, who should be required to keep it until thoroughly 

 qualified for whatever it has to do. 



In this way a really good, unworn, and unspoiled horse^ 

 with all his work in him, is often got more cheaply than in any 

 other way, but it must always be remembered that a newly 

 broken horse will require to be handled sensibly for at least the 

 first year. 



TRYING. 



631. — When you get a horse in your own hands for trial 



