HOW TO BUY AND SELL. 57 



so as to make it fit for more than one or two day's work. 

 Happening to be present on the last occasion on which he 

 brought back the saddle, and knowing how repeatedly he 

 had failed to make it fit, I made some remarks which ex- 

 cited his anger, and he declared that no one could succeed 

 better than he had done, and defied any one to make a 

 lady's saddle that would not hurt the mare. I therefore 

 altered the saddle myself, and successfully; for, during 

 several subsequent years in which my friend kept and 

 used the mare, she never went lame, never had a sore 

 back, and never made one single stumble. 



How often has it fallen to my lot to see good horses 

 sacrificed needlessly, through the use of insufficient or 

 inappropriate tackle, and apparently becoming lame and 

 weakened! 



BEARING-REIN. 



Among the many advantages of dispensing with the 

 bearing-rein, not the least is that of doing away with the 

 nut which fastens the hook in the saddle, as this not un- 

 commonly hurts the horse's back, producing, if not 

 broken knees and fistula, at least a troublesome sore on 

 the withers. 



Whether such a result be the smallest pimple or the 

 largest wen, the merest abrasion or the foulest ulcer, the 

 horse is, in any case UNSOUND. 



When the sore is healed, and the horse is restored to 

 perfect usefulness, he is again SOUND. 



When the saddle hurts the horse so much as to cause 

 him to go lame, or to fall upon his knees, and no sore 

 is visible on the removal of the saddle, he is SOUND. 



But, should there be any wound caused by the saddle, 

 the animal is, until cured, UNSOUND. 



Under no circumstances should the bearing-rein be 

 tight. When it is too tight it prevents the animal from 



