22 THE PRACTICAL HORSE KEEPER. 



one looking out for a hunter, it is necessary to be there a day 

 or two before, not after, the fair commences ; later in the week 

 say the second, third, and fourth days is generally given up 

 to inferior classes of horses. 



Confining our attention to hunters, the market is generally 

 confined to Irish and country dealers ; the former bring over 

 a very large number, which they purchase at most of the large 

 fairs in Ireland. In that country they keep them for a short 

 time, give them plenty of food, take a little off the tail to add 

 to their beauty, etc., and then ship them over to England. 

 The English country dealers, as a rule, scour the country in 

 their different localities, in addition to having agents in 

 different parts of the district ; they also bring a large number 

 of horses together. The English, however, go in more for high- 

 stepping match horses, park hacks, etc., than the Irish horse- 

 dealers do. 



Now for the two or three days before the advertised time 

 of the fair, the show of horses is entirely confined to the 

 different inn yards ; a few people may be seen walking across 

 the streets, yet there is nothing in the appearance of the place 

 to lead one to suppose there is anything more going on than 

 usual. But if you turn down the different stable yards and 

 look into the stables, you will find scarcely a stall unoccupied. 

 The day before the fair the yards are pretty well crowded with 

 people. 



The business transacted during this time is principally with 

 dealers; very few horses are bought "privately" that is, not 

 for sale again. Most of the horses pass into the hands of 

 London dealers, who attend all these fairs ; in fact, most of the 

 horses they obtain are bought at these fairs from the Irish and 

 country dealers. In most of the large fairs in England there 

 are very few local hunters shown ; take Lincoln, for instance, 

 one of the best fairs in England for almost every class of 

 horse. It may be said that there are not ten hunters shown 



