36 THE COMPLETE HORSEMAN 



A few hints may be of service to him. The 

 first is, and to a certain extent it embraces all the 

 others, Never buy a horse which has a really 

 serious defect. No matter how good he may be 

 in other respects reject him, and reject him at 

 ONCE. The man who hesitates will almost cer- 

 tainly be persuaded to buy, and he will regret his 

 indiscretion ever after. 



In buying saddle horses reject common or 

 coarse horses. A saddle horse should be well 

 bred, and he should show it ; otherwise he is 

 sure to be an unpleasant ride. Don't buy a horse 

 with a little eye, or with little ears, or with a big 

 coarse heavy head badly set on. The little ears 

 and eye denote temper and there is no pleasure in 

 ' carrying ' your horse's head every time you go 

 for a ride. Never buy a horse that is a ' washy ' 

 colour ; he is sure to be deficient in stamina and 

 to wear badly. Another bad fault is being ' split 

 up' behind, and still worse is being narrow 

 chested. A horse should be deep through his 

 heart and his ribs should be well sprung for him 

 to be a good worker. 



A very important point is that a horse should 

 stand correctly, turning his toes neither in nor out. 

 If he does either it is a sign of weakness and takes 

 from the value of the horse. Do not let any 

 man who is trying to sell you a horse persuade 

 you that it is only a trivial matter. It is not 

 and he knows it. Far too many horses have their 

 toes in or out nowadays but that is quite another 

 thing. A horse that is ' drawn in ' and very 



