76 Cross Country with Horse and Hound 



know any better. A dealer, on the other hand, is not 

 likely to buy an unsound horse. The horse you buy from 

 him is, generally speaking, worth all the difference between 

 the farmer's and the dealer's price. There is hardly much 

 advantage in buying of a farmer unless you can give your 

 horse the necessary training yourself. This, indeed, is 

 much the better plan if you can afford time and have skill 

 and taste for the work. A man could hardly have a better 

 training for himself, even, than the personal education of a 

 hunter. 



Here is another example of a bargain between a buyer 

 with a confirmed notion that allowances must be made for 

 whatever a dealer says — the buyer, strangely enough, who 

 is always "getting stuck" — and the dealer who can talk 

 horse, one of those fellows whose tongue is operated on 

 ball bearings and has been plentifully lubricated with 

 butter. If a fool is born every minute, these two drew 

 their first breath at the same tick of the clock. 



" Can he jump ? " asks the buyer. 



" Jump ! Well, you see that seven-bar stake and rider 

 fence ? Well, he jumped that from a standstill when he 

 was a weanling." 



" Can he run ? " 



" Run ! Well, I should say ! My stable-boy had him 

 down to the track the other day where there are a lot of 

 thoroughbreds in training, and they coaxed him into having 

 a turn. Well, sir, to make a long story short, he left the 

 bunch as if they were standing." 



** Has he courage ? " 



" Courage ! Why, bless you, I do believe you can jump 



