REPLENISHING THE STUD 49 



privilege is well worth what is charged for it, and 

 unless a man is very full of whims, he seldom has 

 to send a horse back if he goes to a good dealer 

 to begin with. 



Notwithstanding the growing popularity of 

 auction sales, I cannot recommend them, unless 

 some well-known stud happens to be going up 

 for sale, and then the prices are sure to be ex- 

 travagant. It sometimes happens, however, that 

 a man may know something about a horse which 

 is sent up to the Repository, and then he may be 

 able to make a bargain, but generally in such a 

 case the value of the horse is known to more 

 than one. Indeed it is as well to avoid all 

 thoughts of getting a cheap bargain when you 

 are buying horses, and the apparent cheap bargains 

 often turn out bitter disappointments. In con- 

 clusion, I may say that during a pretty long 

 experience, I have bought horses from dealers, 

 farmers, and once, and once only, at an auction. 

 The latter was one of the most satisfactory pur- 

 chases I ever made, but had other people known 

 the horse and as much about him as I did, I 

 should have had to give at least ^50 or ^60 

 more for him than he cost me. The result 

 of my experience is that I shall, for the future, 

 buy my horses of dealers. All my transactions 

 with dealers have been satisfactory, for if the 

 horse I got was not quite what I wanted, I soon 

 got one that was, and the only unsatisfactory 

 deals I have had have been with farmers, men 

 who, like the Heathen Chinee, were child -like 

 and bland. 



Note. — Lest my remarks respecting buying hunters 

 from farmers may be misunderstood, I have thought it 



E 



