26 THE COMPLETE HORSEMAN 



transactions. He approaches the business of 

 Horse buying with vague ideas of perfection ; 

 he thinks he sees in the horse that he is looking 

 over possibihties which do not exist, his sense 

 of proportion is dulled by the pleasures of Hope 

 and he buys a horse, perhaps good enough in 

 himself but falling far short of the ideal horse 

 he thought he w^as purchasing. So when he has 

 had him a few days he is so thoroughly dis- 

 illusioned that he sells him at a big sacrifice 

 which is perhaps, though not necessarily, a more 

 foolish proceeding than buying him. 



A remarkable instance of this occurred a 

 few years ago. A gentleman whom I knew well 

 bought a very good-looking and very good 

 hunter. We came home together on the second 

 day he had ridden him, and I remarked that 

 he was a good-looking horse. He replied that 

 if I liked him I could have him for £^o. I knew 

 he had cost more than a hundred more than 

 that and that he was sound and I should certainly 

 have bought him had not our conversation been 

 overheard. The gentleman who overheard it 

 called me aside, asked me if I wanted a horse, 

 which as a matter of fact I did not, and as he 

 wanted one I stood aside for him. Now the 

 faults the horse was alleged to have were lack 

 of pace and ' stickiness ' at his fences. As a 

 matter of fact he was fast and a fine performer 

 but he was a little raw with fresh handling. 

 It is true enough that, in the words of the old 

 Yorkshire proverb, it is always better ''to rue sell 



