BUYING AT AUCTION. 61 



hear of, and very often to try, some likely horse, about 

 which he may possibly be allowed a day or two, or even 

 longer, to make up his mind. The townsman who 

 has decided to have a hunter of his own may have a 

 friend who is a good judge of horses, and VilHng to give 

 the benefit of his knowledge. If so, the novice should 

 consult him, and if possible, take the horsey friend 

 with him when he attends a sale or visits a dealer's 

 yard. 



And here it may be mentioned that in the case 

 of dealers it is generally inadvisable to attempt to buy 

 a hunter from a man whose business chiefly lies among 

 harness horses and general utility nags. Such men 

 very often incline to knee action and a suspicion of 

 hackney blood, and some of them, even if they are 

 fine judges of harness horses, know little or nothing 

 about a hunter. Besides which, there is the very 

 real danger that the so-called hunters which are on 

 sale at the stables of the man who deals chiefly in 

 harness horses are nags which have declined harness, 

 or which are not up to the dealer's standard when in 

 leather. " Anything which is not good enough for 

 harness will make a hunter, I reckon," I once heard a 

 celebrated West-end dealer declare, and though the 

 remark sounds a little extravagant I have not the 

 least doubt but that it was a genuine sentiment on the 

 part of a man who preferred a trapper to a hunter, 

 and whose business was with the very best of the 

 former class. When in search of a hunter, then, avoid 

 the dealer in harness horses, imless, indeed, he be an 

 ordinary small country dealer, who buys and sells 

 whatever he can turn a penny by. In this case the man 



