86 CONFESSIONS OF A HORSE DEALER. 



bazaar in the kingdom (and I have seen business done 

 at many) where the proprietors check their " whippers- 

 up " in the foolish practice of punishing and frightening 

 the horse about to be offered the moment he emerges 

 from the stable, to the danger and disgust of many 

 gentlemen who would otherwise be purchasers; for 

 when so alarmed and punished, it is not in the nature 

 of a high-couraged horse to make the most of himself 

 (as some erroneously suppose), because he cannot settle 

 down to his paces, and perform them with anything like . 

 confidence, while a fellow is torturing him from behind 

 with a long whip, and another is continually checking 

 up his head with a deep-levered, jaw-breaking, curb 

 bridle. For the horse is then much in the same position 

 as a man would be were he in a narrow lane, with a 

 high wall on each side, the sea before him, and the devil 

 behind him. In fact, all that the bystanders can see of 

 a horse at some repositories is a series of hops, skips, and 

 ]umps. 



In making these remarks, I do not wish in any way 

 to insinuate that no good or cheap horses can be bought 

 at horse bazaars ; on the contrary, I know that many 

 first-class horses change hands at these places. But in 

 these cases the purchasers generally know more of the 

 horses they buy than it is possible for them to ascertain 

 while they are writhing and contorting their forms in 

 fear and agony under the loud cracking and keen cut- 

 ting whip, in the hands of the man employed for the 

 purpose. 



