PoixTS TO BE Considered. loi 



There are persons whose sense of hearing is so accurate, that after Ustening to a horse 

 trotting on hard ground they will discover without seeing on which leg he goes lame. 



I once accompanied the late Mr. Foljambe, of Osberton, celebrated as a breeder of horses, 

 hounds, and Leicester sheep, on a visit to the late Rawcliffe stud, for the purpose of choosing 

 a stallion for his hunting mares. His observations from hearing alone (he became blind at 

 about forty years of age) on the paces of the horses led out were most accurate. He had 

 then been blind about twenty years. 



There is truth in an old Yorkshire proverb, that "you must buy a horse with every fault 

 before you are fit to buy in a fair." 



If you are a novice, get a competent person to advise you ; and the most competent is a 

 veterinary surgeon who is daily engaged in examining horses. There are amateurs and grooms 

 who are excellent judges, as far as form and soundness of limb are concerned. Where low- 

 priced horses are in question, you may risk something, and you must always risk a great deal 

 in buying by auction and at fairs. But where you want to purchase a high-class animal, at 

 a proportionate price, it is well worth while, as in every other business transaction, to pay for 

 competent professional advice. 



Harnessed in brilliant carriages, and mounted by very fashionable personages, you may 

 see every day in the London season horses with all sorts of defects— very old or very groggy, 

 or touched in the wind, or defective in eyesight— but used because they possess some real or 

 imaginary merit of action or form. Wonderful are the cripples which draw about the old- 

 fashioned chariots of wealthy old maids and well-dowered dowagers who will not condescend 

 to job their horses. The following are a few of the points to which attention should be 

 directed : — 



A hack should have two good eyes ; so should a hunter, although in every hunting-field 

 there is a tradition of some Cyclops an extraordinary performer. One of the best mares I 

 ever rode hunting had been foaled blind of one eye. But a horse that has lost one eye from 

 disease is very likely to lose the other at no distant date. A one-eyed horse, in other 

 respects perfect, may do very well in double harness with the blind side to the pole ; indeed, 

 if economy is an object, and the roads in your district are good, you may put up with one 

 totally blind horse in a pair, if his courage, form, and action make him look worth at least 

 three figures ; but it is as well to know of the defect, and get it allowed in the purchase- 

 money. 



In dealing, the only safe way is to peremptorily reject a horse with any weakness or 

 defect to the eyesight, and listen to no excuse, unless you are prepared to buy a blind horse 

 at a blind price. A certain class of persons always have a plausible excuse for every 

 suspicious appearance, whether it be a blind eye or a pair of broken knees. 



The "wind," to u.se a popular term, that is, the state of the lungs, windpipe, and throat, 

 demands careful examination ; any signs of past or present affection of the lungs is a fatal 

 objection to any horse valued at more than £6. The defects of roaring or whistling are 

 matters of degree and of price. A roarer may be for certain purposes a useful animal, but 

 it does not pay to buy one without knowing the drawback. 



Copers, who have made a trade of purchasing unsound horses of fine figure and action, 

 have a way of temporarily subduing the signs of broken wind. A broken-winded horse may 

 be compared to a man far gone in asthma. Broken wind is an incurable disease of the lungs ; 

 but there are many degrees between absolutely broken wind, and what is called " making a 

 little noise." 



