CHAPTER VII. 



HOW TO BUY A HORSE. 



W WHOM TO BUT- EXTRAORDINARY CHEAPNESS AND 3XTRA0RD3fA8\ £X 

 CELLFNCE NOT TO BE EXPECTED— POINTS TO BE REGARDED— HOW TO E^JLM 

 INE THE EYES— BROKEN WIND — ROARING— WHISTLING — BROKEN KNKWI— 

 TO EXAMINE THE LEGS— SPLENTS— DAMAGED BACK SINEWS— SPAVIN i*— 

 RINGBONES — CURBS — THOROUGH-PIN— HOW TO TELL THE AGE OF A H0U3E. 



It is not, of course, to be imagined, that any person entirely 

 unacquainted with horses, the points of their anatomical 

 structure^ their constitution and their qualities, can be by 

 the mere perusal of any one or more books on the subjeet, 

 at once created into a good judge of the animal, and a com- 

 petent purchaser beyond the risk of being deceived or oi 

 deceiving himself. To become a perfect judge of a ho) se 

 requires the observation and attention of half a life-time ; 

 nor with every man will these be sufficient ; for a certain 

 degree of natural tact and talent, or adaptability to the 

 study, is clearly indispensable ; and there are some men 

 who, if they were born in a manger and brought up in a 

 stable, would never become horsemen or judges of a horse 

 Still, there is no doubt that a person desiring to purchase, 

 and desiring to exercise in some degree his own choice in 

 the matter rather than submit wholly to the guidance of a 

 friend, may, by carefully studying what has been written 

 on the subject, qualify himself so far as in a great measure, 

 using proper precautions and profiting by some advice, to 

 iecurc himself against the probability of being very groa^Iy 



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