202 THE STUD. 



good judge bad done all that could be done to 

 produce proper condition, and bad failed : of 

 course I suppose tbe borse to be free from abso- 

 lute sickness. If, on tbe contrary, tbere was any 

 good cause for tbe poverty exhibited, and tbe 

 horse was a moderate age, finely formed, sound 

 (enough), and a good goer, I say, do not be de- 

 terred by his present appearance. Probably he is 

 a good and may be a capital speculation. He has 

 several recommendations over the fat one : you 

 most likely see him at his worst, and buy him at 

 his minimum price. If in health there is no 

 chance, as with the fat one, of work injuring, and 

 by proper care he will daily improve under your 

 hands : for as regards work, though total idle- 

 ness will conduce to the fatness of the hog, 

 moderate work will not prevent a horse throwing 

 up proper flesh, and what does increase will be 

 good. My vote, therefore, in a general way, 

 would be in favour of buying such a horse, if 

 price was any object. There are, certainly, spare 

 horses, like spare men, that never get fiit : but 

 the difference between a naturally spare habit 

 and a poor horse can be both seen and felt : the 

 sj)are horse will look fresh, and feel in good con- 

 dition ; the -poor horse will do neither. 



Horses will vary a good deal as to appearance 

 in point of flesh on them, from difference of forma- 

 tion, and the prominence, or its reverse, of the 



