120 THE HORSE BOOK. 



auctioneer. There are quite constant modifica- 

 tions of these conditions by the pointing out of 

 imperfections. 



The most astounding practice about the horse 

 business in a professional way is the *^bush.'' 

 If a definition of this term should be inserted in 

 Webster's Unabridged Dictionary it would 

 probably read about like this: ^^To bush.— To 

 force or cajole the seller of a horse to refund to 

 the purchaser a portion of the price bid in the 

 auction ring.'' There are various reasons for 

 this ^'bushing." A buyer may find something 

 on the horse which he did not see in the ring. 

 Then he may insist on a reduction of the price 

 •and the vendor will consent to be ^'bushed" 

 rather than run the risk of a rejection. Some- 

 times the seller will submit to the process on 

 the statement of the buyer that he has bought 

 the horse too dear. ^^ Bushing" is necessarily 

 a sort of a private transaction and it would 

 therefore be useless to go into further detail. 

 Many a horse has, however, gone through the 

 ring with the ^'bush" arranged beforehand, 

 which is another way of saying that the horse 

 was bought before he was auctioned off. 



In the vernacular of the bull-pen there are 

 many terms and expressions which may be ex- 

 plained. The most incomprehensible I ever 

 heard was ^^bush and a gristle," which indi- 

 cated that the horse had an incipient sidebone 

 and was sold subject to a reduction of the price 



