50 How to Purchase a Horse. 



necks very frequently becoming so after a bad cold or an 

 attack of influenza. All large horses, too, are more or less 

 liable to their wind becoming affected after illness. In- 

 flammation of the feet is another common complaint with 

 horses of this class. Loaded with flesh to improve their 

 style and appearance, and with high action in addition to 

 their weight — two great causes of inflammatory attacks — 

 they are very liable to this complaint, unless great care is 

 taken to guard against it. Many carriage horses, too, have 

 flat feet, rendering them doubly liable to an attack of this 

 description ; in them the sole of the foot will sink, becom- 

 ing convex instead of concave. When such is the case, 

 great care is requisite in shoeing, or the horse will not be 

 workably sound. 



Some few years since grey was the most fashionable 

 colour for carriage horses, now bays and brown have quite 

 superseded it for all descriptions of horses ; and unless he 

 is very first-rate, a grey horse is almost universally ob- 

 jected to. 



In hiring or jobbing carriage horses the price per month 

 varies according to the time of year. For the months of 

 May, June, and July, the height of the London season, it 

 would be about £2 1 or ^22 per month for a pair of good- 

 looking, useful horses. For the rest of the year it would 

 vary from £16 to not less than £12 per month, according 

 to the time of year and the value of the horses. If hired 

 by the year, the price would be from £90 to ^"ioo for a 

 pair of horses, and £60 for a single horse. The hirer in 

 all cases to provide fodder, &c, and to pay all expenses, 

 as shoeing, &c, unless a separate agreement is entered 

 into, when the price will be proportionately more. 



Horses for Light Harness. 



In this class may be included horses suitable for gigs, 

 T-carts, light broughams, dog-carts, &c. They should be 

 well-bred, neck rather long and arched, with good back 

 and quarters, strong oblique shoulders, carry a good head 

 and tail, and be of a generally showy and stylish appear- 

 ance, with high grand action. Horses of this description 



