Buying a Hunter 77 



him right over a locomotive engine. He would try a 

 church if you sent him at it." 



"Is he sound? " 



"Well, now, I want to tell you I have been dealing in 

 horses for the last forty years, and, really, I never owned a 

 sounder horse in all my life." 



The buyer here looks for splints and curbs, which is the 

 extent of his ability to judge soundness. 



" That 's right," says the seller ; " look him all over care- 

 fully. Not a scratch or a pimple on him anywhere. If 

 you find one I will give him to you," etc., without end. 



All I have to say is that if a buyer is foolish enough to 

 patronise such men or to be caught by such chaff as this, it 

 serves him right. Buy your own horse. Go alone and 

 tell the truth. That the horse you buy to-day may go 

 lame to-morrow, or take cold on the way home and die in 

 a week, is n't anybody's fault. The buyer took the same 

 chances with the same horse. Don't expect a green-silk 

 umbrella for fifty cents. There are a hundred and one 

 things likely to happen to a horse. Take your share of 

 hard luck when it comes your way as a true sportsman 

 should. In the buying of the best, the soundest, the most 

 perfect-mannered horse in the world, you gamble on how 

 he will turn out in your hands. 



A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Men who 

 have learned a little about horses are invariably conceited. 

 What they know has been picked up by talking horse at 

 the club or reading some one's receipt for " How to Tell a 

 Good Horse." These are among the men who are always 

 getting stuck. Their bumps of conceit usually cost them 



