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like it myself, and, by using mild bits and riding 

 with long reins, I always tried to cure a horse of 

 taking hold, and, as I rarely bought anything but 

 young horses, generally succeeded. 



To ensure a horse going kindly and pleasantly, 

 riding with long reins is a great secret, and a 

 secret I for one found most difficult to learn. 

 It is so easy in theory to keep them long, and so 

 hard in practice when a horse is "at" you. Dick 

 Christian knew what he was talking about when he 

 said: "Always give them plenty of rope." If you 

 are going to pick up moderate horses cheap and 

 turn them into good ones, you must learn to do that. 



A buyer of cheap ones must make up his mind 

 quickly, for a seller, once he has determined to 

 cut a loss and get rid of a horse, generally loses 

 no time over the operation. If you find, in a 

 quick, cheap deal, that you have got hold of a 

 really unsound one, sell him again at once. If 

 you don't waste money on his keep, but get rid of 

 him, you can't lose much. You have bought cheap, 

 and will always get a few pounds back at auction. 

 If you have a farm, or other means of keeping 

 your crock quite cheaply, that alters the case a 

 little, but I always made it my rule to get quit./ 



I remember once, though, being saved by luck 

 from making a bad mistake in this way with a little 

 mare I owned called Peace. She went constantly 

 lame, and the vet. said he thought it was in the 

 feet. I had just had her run out, one frosty 

 morning, when I was in no sweet temper or optimis- 

 tic mood, and found her lame again. A friend 

 who did a little horse-dealing happened to look 

 in, and I said: "There you are - twenty-five 

 pounds, and she is yours". He did not take her, 

 and that very day my man Grant located the real 

 trouble - a tiny splint under the knee. I hun- 

 ted her straight on, and she never missed her 

 turn again, and proved one of the soundest and 

 best. When I got ill and had to sell my horses, 

 she made a hundred and sixty guineas at auction. 

 I think I am right in saying that Baroness Burton, 

 who bought her, and with whom she made a great 



