32 CONFESSIONS OF A HORSE DEALER. 



tinguished by the great length of their incisors, and the 

 tushes being worn down very considerably. Those 

 animals which are of a dark colour, such as blacks, 

 browns, dark bays, or chesnuts, will have a mixture of 

 grey hair on the face; along the neck, mane, and 

 withers, the dapple grey. Colours gradually give place 

 to a permanent white, commencing at the head, and in 

 course of time extending all over the body, the legs 

 being last to change colour. In the aged horse may 

 also be noticed a deep indentation over each eye, which, 

 in coping parlance, is called the " glims." 



I shall now proceed to explain how all these marks of 

 age are obliterated, and an appearance of youth given 

 to the poor old horse, which is well calculated to deceive 

 the unwary purchaser, especially when the horse is 

 offered by a plausible oily-tongued coper in a fair, 

 where this business is mostly transacted in a hurry, and 

 where the novice has no opportunity of- obtaining the 

 advice of an honest, experienced man, even if he sus- 

 pected foul play. 



The "bishoper" and his confederates will lead the 

 horse into a building strewed with a deep bed of straw, 

 and secure from observation ; they will then hobble and 

 cast the poor old creature on his back, securing him so 

 firmly that he cannot struggle. A thick wooden gag is 

 then thrust between his molar teeth (grinders), leaving 

 his incisors open and in a convenient position for the 

 operation, which is commenced by first filing down the 

 edges of the incisors to the required length, then the 



