Horse Buying and Horse Trying 109 



horses " ; or by those officious individuals, who, real- 

 ising how easy it is to find fault, strive by caustic 

 comment to conceal their profound ignorance. 

 Horse buying is not an occult science, and there 

 are no hidden mysteries about such matters which 

 have been, as by a miracle, revealed to the dull and 

 the ignorant, and remain ever veiled from the capable 

 and the intelligent. Class yourself with the latter, 

 at feast to yourself. 



To begin with, the animal's temperament should 

 be of the most active, brisk, and ambitious; temper, 

 of the most kindly and genial. Temperament is an 

 inheritance from various and sundry ancestors, and 

 can be but little changed, but temper, while coming 

 from the same sources, is susceptible of ruin or cul- 

 ture, according as education shall tend. 



Having studied the inward conformation — or 

 temperament — of the beast, perhaps we are in condi- 

 tion to consider his outward arrangement, and those 

 indications of his merits and good qualities which 

 are afforded by such points ; not only the individu- 

 ality, which is an external evidence of the tempera- 



