142 THE STUD. 



evinces that he sees a hand, or that the general 

 look of the eye is prepossessing. I have heard it 

 maintained no man could be considered drunk if 

 he could tell whether or not a candle was alight 

 held before his eyes. It certainly seems there 

 are persons equally liberal in their estimation of 

 the goodness of the horse's vision ; my reader I 

 hope will be a little more sceptical on the latter 

 point. The pros and cons, as regards the stages 

 of inebriety, are not " in my vocation." 



LEADING WITH THE WEONG LEG. 



This will, at first, appear a matter of very 

 little importance as regards the selection or re- 

 jection of a horse. " Oh, I'll soon teach him to 

 take the right leg," cries the purchaser ; perhaps 

 he may do this : but may yet, under certain cir- 

 cumstances, find it not so easy a matter to effect 

 as he may suppose, unless it may be a raw colt 

 that has only been half broken ; for if it is a 

 horse that has been tolerably well handled, we 

 have no reason to doubt but that he has been 

 taught to take the right leg, but prefers leading 

 with the near one for reasons best known to him- 

 self, for horses do not change their habits with- 

 out some cause for doino; so ; and it is not at all 

 improbable that, if a horse pertinaciously adheres 

 to leading with the opposite leg to that which he 



