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do a more foolish thing than buy a horse at random, 

 merely because it has the outward qualifications 

 that please his eye. I may add too, that even in 

 point of appearance, a bad rider will look more 

 ungraceful upon a spirited, high-mettled horse, 

 however showy, than on an animal of more mode- 

 rate pretensions, but whose temper is more in ac- 

 cordance with the timidity of his rider. Where, 

 however, a man is less ambitious of show than 

 comfort, he cannot be too careful to ascertain with 

 certainty the extent of his riding powers : nor need 

 he feel ashamed of asking a dealer's opinion on this 

 point ; for there is not a man in the trade who 

 cannot tell, the instant he is mounted, whether his 

 customer can ride. This preliminary inquiry is of 

 great importance for another reason. An inex- 

 perienced or timid rider will often throw his horse 

 down by the roughness or carelessness with which 

 he manages his bridle. The paces of a horse are 

 materially affected by the rein : a sudden check or 

 a violent grasp of the curb, will not unfrequently 

 give a tender-mouthed horse such pain, as, to quote 

 the emphatic expression that I once heard from an 

 ostler, to ^^ strike him all of a heap" — the abrupt- 

 ness of the restraint impedes his action, and makes 

 him stumble over his own legs. 



