34 CONFESSIONS OF A HORSE DEALER 



and trotted briskly about to assist the drying ; a solution 

 of India ink is now cleverly applied to the parts -which 

 are mixed with grey hairs ; other colours are dyed with 

 a preparation corresponding with the natural colour of 

 the horse's coat ; much importance is attached to the 

 best secrets, in the preparing of colours and the manner 

 of applying them, and some, of course, excel others at 

 the business. I have known instances where men, who 

 have owned the horse for years, after selling him at 

 one fair, have bought the same animal at another from 

 these clever copers, and have never suspected the de- 

 ception until they have arrived home, when their sus- 

 picions have only been awakened by the exhibition of 

 some peculiar trick, and other little et ceteras which 

 they fancied could only belong to the old horse which 

 they once owned ; this may appear strange, but I pledge 

 my reputation to the truth of the statement. 



But although the appearance of the horse's coat and 

 teeth is changed, the " make-up 5 ' does not exactly stop 

 here, for yet another link has to be added to the chain 

 of cruelty by which the poor old horse, after working 

 the best of his days in the service of man, is held in 

 bondage. Before he is offered for sale, he is confined, 

 as long as circumstances will permit, in a dark stable, 

 the coper being particular to exclude every ray of light, 

 and as the time approaches for his being shown in the 

 fair, the brutal fellow will belabour him with all his 

 might when fastened up in the stall, with a heavy ash- 

 plant j and if by this, unsightly weals are raised on the 



