-14- 



to weight and full of quality, that if rideable was 

 worth big money, went, such was his evil reputation, 

 for a few pounds to drag out his life in a side-car. 



I would suggest, if you can only buy a cheap 

 one, don't be afraid of taking a risk. It is much 

 better to buy a horse worth good money, with some 

 fault or vice, at a cheap price than to buy a com- 

 mon slow horse that has no particular "crab," yet 

 who will never really satisfy you. You ma?/- straight- 

 en out the former, but you can never alter Nature's 

 handiwork in the latter. 



To the man who has to pick up cheap horses I 

 would say: Carefully study make and shape (there 

 are many excellent books on that subject, which 

 greatly help), but avoid all fads, and do not ex- 

 pect to buy a cheap one without some faults. If 

 you do, it will probably mean you have got hold of 

 an unenterprising brute without faults or merits. 

 In forming our opinion of a horse, we unluckily can- 

 not see the most vital point of all - the heart. 

 If only we could really tell by looking at them what 

 horses are stout-hearted "stayers," what a comfort 

 it would be I But all we can do is to look for good 

 girth and room for heart and lungs. 



I have read somewhere that John Scott, "The 

 Wizard of the North," said of legs, "the best-look- 

 ing go first." I don't know that I would go as far 

 as that as regards hunters' legs, but I must say I 

 am never afraid of legs that fill, and have many a 

 time proved them to last well. 



For a light weight who wants to hunt cheaplv. 

 and has no ambition to make his own hunters er ta- 

 lent for "straightening out" queer-tempered horse , 

 1 would without hesitation recommend cobs or ponies. 

 The small ones can nearly always be bought cheaply, 

 for dealers don't want them. Then, again, they 

 require less skilled stable management, are cheaper 

 to feed when in work, and cheaper to summer, for 

 they are much more hardy. I often think that un- 

 less we go back to pony blood for our hunters, we 

 shall get them too highly bred and delicate, but 

 that is another matter. A light weight on a really 



