50 HOW TO BUY A HORSE. 



took to do so, ' make ' a young horse pleasant and 

 safe to ride, and the owner may trust implicitly in 

 all that is told him regarding the animal. I do not 

 say that there are not many others who are perfectly 

 competent to school young horses, but I can recom- 

 mend those I have named, from a knowledge of 

 their methods. 



To buy a horse at an auction sale is to take a 

 chance in a lottery. Many excellent horses are 

 sold in those places, but to them are also sent most 

 of the vicious, worthless brutes that cannot be dis- 

 posed of in any other way. The price is often an 

 indication of the value of a horse sold by auction, 

 for it is seldom that a really good animal is friend- 

 less ; but occasionally a very fair horse may be 

 picked up for a sum far below its worth. It is 

 not usual to give any warranty to horses sold by 

 auction, and some of those that are described as 

 fine ' performers across country/ ' quiet to ride 

 and drive,' or ' well known ' with this or that pack 

 of hounds, may answer those descriptions as far as 

 they go, and yet be vicious in the stable, difficult 

 to mount, or otherwise dangerous. 



It is a common error to believe that horses which 

 are quick and clever upon their feet may trip with- 

 out danger of falling, and many men select horses 

 with low action as being less liable to tire^than 



