THE EYE OF THE MASTER 77 



description fairly well. Naturally you choose 

 your time for buying, and bid for hunters when 

 other people want polo ponies, and for polo 

 ponies when other people want hunters. It is 

 true that you will have in this case to keep the 

 animals you buy for some time, but that is no 

 disadvantage, and if you live in the country 

 and have some grass land, no great expense. 

 When you are buying it is desirable to look 

 pretty closely at the catalogues, and to pay 

 visits to the respective lots. Horses sold 

 singly or in small lots of three or four, and 

 without a name, are often cheap, but also are 

 risky purchases. Yet there are prizes to be 

 had in such cases, and I must confess that 

 I have known and purchased several bar- 

 gains in this way. There is an element of 

 chance in this plan which is not without its 

 charms. It is evident that sales are some- 

 times forced for various reasons, and thus 

 bargains come upon the market. I well re- 

 collect selling three excellent young Irish 

 hunters, all practically sound, because my 

 tenancy of a hunting box had come to an 

 end, and I was on leave from India and had to 

 return. I hunted the horses to the last avail- 

 able day, and sent them up with very little 

 preparation. The man who bought those 

 animals got a bargain, for they fetched quite 



