IXTRODLXTIOX. 



Horsemen (and by the term I mean men who not only 

 excel in horsemanship, but who thoroughly understand 

 horses) are like poets, born and not made; but, for all that, 

 the average man who tries assiduously to become efficient 

 in riding, and to know something of horses, can generally 

 succeed. 



It is really astonishing how very few men. and especially 

 Londoners bred and born, are well acquainted with the 

 points of the animal. They know, of course, the diflFerence 

 between a cart nag and a '• cabber." simply because it is 

 more or less one of bulk or size ; but when it becomes a 

 question of, say, the difference between a saddle horse and 

 a carriage horse, they are absolutely at fault ; indeed, 

 among my own acquaintances (and I know a great many 

 men who keep horses). I could count on my fingers those 

 who possess what is called " a good eye for a horse." 



Again, there are others who, though they may know a 

 good looking from a bad looking horse, have not the 

 slightest idea of what I may call anatomical faults, or those 

 defects which are known to the horse-dealing fraternity by 

 the significant term " ifs." Unfortunately, alas! there are 

 very few horses without an '* if" of some kind or other. 



But how is this knowledge to be acquired ? I believe the 

 best way to proceed is. first, to familiarise the eye by study- 

 ing photographs of typical horses ; then, by means of critical 

 observation, compare the horses you meet in your daily 

 walks with the impression the pictures have created on your 

 mind ; pull them to pieces, in fact — not literally, of course ; 



