HORSE DEALERS. 36i 



w^hich they listen. No one accepted a horse as sound, because the dealer 

 protested it was, "as a roach." A warranty would be taken, although 

 the oath of the seller should attest to perfectibility of the animal. A 

 species of fiction is, consequently, employed by the class as a business 

 requisite; but the habits of trade are not transplanted into the trans- 

 actions of private life. The author has known tradespeople among horse 

 dealers whose characters were as estimable and whose private words 

 were as trustworthy as those of any gentleman whose friendship he has 

 the honor to enjoy. 



All callings have certain prides or weaknesses in which the community 

 at large cannot be expected to sympathize. Horse dealers are not ex- 

 ceptions to this rule. The first qualification for the calling is the recog- 

 nition of a good horse, — no matter where or under what circumstances 

 it may be seen. With the recognition must also exist a power of cor- 

 rectly fixing the selling price'or the marketable value. Complex calcu- 

 lation must also be instantly solved. The quadruped may be lean : then 

 must be estimated the time and the money requisite to promote the sell- 

 ing condition. The animal may be worn out with unsuitable employ- 

 ment: then must be reckoned the sum which will train it to a more 

 fitting use. The creature may be a colt, raw, and at a distance from 

 the dealer's home : quick as thought, however, must be ascertained the 

 probable cost of breaking and of conditioning, with the hazard, etc. at- 

 tendant upon a long journey. These things must be summed up at a 

 glance; and, while the brain is engaged, the countenance must not 

 betray the matter of cogitation. 



An ability to do this is the attainment which enables a stout person 

 to stand the center of a group, — drinking, laughing, and chatting ; never- 

 theless keeping his mind so steady and his eye so clear to business as, 

 will justify him in purchasing young stock which has only been once led 

 past him. All horse dealers, however, are not thus gifted : very many 

 live to repent the hasty judgments on which their money has been 

 staked ; but the ideal, to which all aspire and which not a few certainly 

 embody, is fairly stated in the above qualifications necessary for the 

 successful pursuit of the trade. 



Not the easiest portion of the business is to. form a just estimate of 

 the taste of the customers ; so that when a horse is shown, the purchaser 

 may ideally behold some patron upon the animal's back ; for a dealer 

 rarely likes to buy without he can discern his way to the end of the 

 transaction. "Ah I just Sir WilHam's .stamp I" " Lady Louisa would 

 give her heart rather than miss that, after having seen itl" Or, "The 

 very cut for Lord Harry's hunt !" These, and similar mental ejaculations, 

 are at once acted upon. The tastes and foibles of various customers are 



