52 DRIVING AS I FOUND IT. 



BUYING HOKSES. 



There is no doubt that horse dealers in New York are 

 heavily handicapped as to the kind of horses they have 

 to buy. In England horses that are bred for carriage 

 work are allowed to run till between three and four years 

 of age. They are then bitted and broken to harness 

 and sold to dealers, who have every convenience to 

 finish their education. They are driven every day by 

 an experienced brakesman through the busiest parts of 

 the West End of London, until they become quiet and 

 handy and get accustomed to different objects. Their 

 style of going, the way they carry their heads and shape 

 their necks are (subjects on which no end of time and 

 patience are spent to make i)erfect. The dealer now 

 considers them so, and certainly is justified in put- 

 ting them into the hands of a customer as a pair 

 of horses fit to put to his carriage. But how 

 different the process American horses have to go 

 through. 



They are bought indiscriminately as to age or what 

 kind of work they have been doing. Most of them have 

 been worked since they were able to draw. I can leave 



