CHAPTER XV 



JUDGING HORSES 



THE purchaser should know something of the an- 

 cestors of the animal under consideration, as a horse 

 may have inherited characteristics arid specialized 

 qualities which cannot be discovered until the animal 

 has been used for some time. Only in rare cases has 

 the purchaser an opportunity before buying to drive 

 the horse enough to discover all of its desirable or 

 undesirable qualities, or its probable future develop- 

 ment. Therefore, the breedng of the animal, or, in 

 other words, the pedigree, written or unwritten, should 

 be fairly well known, when possible. 



The selling of horses gives the owner great oppor- 

 tunity to indulge in exaggerated statements, even to 

 misrepresent and to skilfully conceal defects and the 

 true age of the horse without becoming legally liable. 

 The seller may offer to guarantee the animal to be 

 sound and free from vicious habits; but even then 

 there are usually loopholes left in the guarantee through 

 which the seller may crawl by the aid of a lawyer, if 

 he leave his conscience behind. It is often wise first 

 to investigate the pedigree of the man offering a horse 

 for sale before looking up the history and pedigree of 

 the horse, especially if he has bred and raised the animal 

 under consideration. 



(232) 



