THE CHABACTER OF THE HORSE. 225 



wants when he enters a dealer's yard, or being ignorant, 

 does not hesitate to avow it, and trusts to the honour 

 and superior judgment of the dealer to select him a 

 horse in every way suitable for his requirements ; for I 

 repeat what I have often before stated, that it does 

 not pay a respectable horse-dealer to cheat his cus- 

 tomers ; and if a purchaser would place entire confidence 

 in the dealer, he will rarely find the confidence abused, 

 But those who treat a respectable dealer with unjust 

 suspicions, need not be surprised, when left to select for 

 themselves, if they look for one sort of horse and find 

 another. 



CHAPTER XL 



THE CHABACTES OP THE HOESE. 



THERE may be some among my readers who will be 

 surprised to learn that the horse breathes through his 

 nostrils only, and not through his mouth, and this ac- 

 counts for the fact that the mouth is rarely seen open, 

 except through the pressure of the bit on his lower jaw. 

 This is the cause of the dilation of his nostrils during 

 and after severe exercise. "When grazing in the fields, 

 he gathers the blades of grass with his lips, by which 

 they are passed between his incisors, or front teeth, and 



