Buying a Hunter 81 



mixed, and pulls on the curb instead of the snaffle. His 

 hunter returns after a run in a state of nervous prostration, 

 breaking out in a cold sweat : his rider does not know 

 that every time he landed he jabbed the spurs into him. 

 From want of horsemanship he took more out of his 

 mount in a single run than he should have done in four or 

 five runs of proper riding. The trouble was, he was " over- 

 horsed." The man who sold the horse, a thorough horse- 

 man, may have taken the same horse through a harder run 

 on the best of terms, with sheep twine for reins. 



The buyer says he has been deceived ; on the contrary, 

 he has deceived the dealer, who sold him what the buyer 

 gave him to understand was wanted. A horse-dealer of 

 any standing is just as eager to suit as the buyer is to be 

 suited. No man in the world knows better than the dealer 

 that confidence and square dealing are his principal stock 

 in trade. So the buyer goes to the dealer and says: 



" You misrepresented that horse to me. You must take 

 him back." 



" No," replies the dealer, or he ought to, " I cannot 

 furnish brains for the horse's mount. And since you put 

 it on the ground that I deceived you knowingly, I will not 

 take the horse back. It would be acknowledging that I 

 had deceived you." 



In other words, again the buyer has gone the wrong way 

 about it. If he had gone about it in the right way, truth- 

 fully, ten to one the dealer would have fitted him out with 

 a horse of his size something he could pull and maul; 

 in short, some old stager that would plod through a hunt 

 as through a day's work at the plough. 



On the other hand, a horse that will answer for one 



