RULES FOR rURCHASING. 113 



for the pursuit ; and neither the love of the horse, nor 

 the respect for the friend, will check it when once 

 it takes possession of the mind. 



This serious consideration renders the position of the 

 professional and licensed horse-dealer of the greatest 

 consequence. He has a reputation and a livelihood to 

 gain and to uphold, and the man of sterling sense and 

 character will find that right-mindedness in his acts 

 of buying and selling will answer quite as well for 

 him in dealing with horses, as the merchant does who 

 deals in any material of legalised commerce. Always 

 endeavour to place him in his true light, and make 

 the transaction as palpable to his sense of honour, 

 as it is to his pecuniary advantage. Thus the pro- 

 fessional dealer will very generally become the true 

 medium in horse dealing; and he will cause fewer 

 words and less trouble than any other class of 

 dealers. 



In the purchase of a horse our first consideration 

 is to please the eye, by the colour, the height, the 

 countenance, the carriage, and the general contour ; 

 then to determine the age, the sight, the absence 

 of disease in wind and body, and the freedom of the 

 limbs from excrescences, enlargements, blemishes, and 



