Food, Grooming, Water, Clipping 255 



the horses which are always to be found in auction 

 marts, at sales stables, or in private hands, which 

 have through hard usage or long-continued sick- 

 ness so shrunk in condition as to become hide-bound, 

 thin, and unsalable at anything approaching their 

 actual value. Such horses prove the best purchases 

 possible for the man of moderate means, and if 

 they have youth on their side and are nearly sound, 

 he cannot do better than to make a practice of buying 

 one or more of them, according to his needs ; using 

 them for a time in his family work, and then dis- 

 posing of them either at auction or by private treaty 

 for the advance that a fat horse always brings over 

 one that is thin, be the salesman never so indif- 

 ferent a hand at negotiating such bargains. 



By following this plan a man gains two very 

 practical ends, — he gets his work done for nothing, 

 or next to it, since the advance received will wholly 

 or partially repay the outlay for food, etc., leaving 

 him the work performed as an unassailable and 

 most valuable asset; and by thus constantly chang- 

 ing his horses, he is saved those twinges at the 



