BUYING AT AUCTION. 63 



if he buys cheaply he is, of course, taking a risk. At a 

 sale of the Bicester cubhunters I once saw a chesnut 

 horse knocked down for £40 who a few months later was 

 winning steeplechases all over the country, and at a 

 Dublin sale a certain horse (a five-year-old) brought £36, 

 and, after doing a season's hunting for its new owner, 

 won a point to point and a hunt steeplechase, and went 

 into a rich man's stable at £350. The novice must 

 disabuse his mind of the common idea that every horse 

 sent up for sale is a " wrong 'un," and understand 

 that the buyer who knows nothing of the horses which 

 are being sold is embarking in a sort of lottery. Many 

 Masters of hounds and many ordinary hunting folk 

 sell their entire stud every spring, and it stands to reason 

 that a big majority of these horses are very genuine 

 hunters. 



In nearly all horse deaUng there is a certain amount 

 of luck, and a man may turn up trumps with the very 

 first horse he buys, or may purchase half a dozen before 

 he finds one to suit him. But a new beginner will, as 

 a rule, find himself best carried if he buys what used 

 to be called a " seasoned " hunter, but which is now 

 generally spoken of as a " made " horse. It is for this 

 reason that I suggest buying at auction rather than from 

 a dealer at first. At auction one gets the finished 

 article, from a dealer the young horse, who may be a 

 perfect fencer in the dealer's field and still has had little 

 experience in the hunting field. What the beginner 

 wants is a horse with some manners, and such horses 

 can best be procured, at a comparatively low price, at the 

 auctions. Blemishes, unless very unsightly, are of little 

 account, but, as the novice generally requires a horse 



