PREFACE. xix 



admit his want of knowledge somewhat blushingly, 

 as if he were ashamed to say he knew nothing 

 about them. His blushes be to his credit ! How 

 should he know if he has never had the opportunity 

 of learning ? Yet that man may shortly afterwards 

 find himself in the possession of a horse which 

 choice or necessity, or both, has made his property. 

 He is entirely in the hands of his groom. The 

 latter is perhaps careless or dishonest, and then 

 commences a long course of experience dearly 

 bought, and what should have been to him a 

 source of pleasure and, at least, convenience, if not 

 of profit (as in the case of a professional man whose 

 requirements necessitate his keeping a stable), be- 

 comes too often a very bugbear of worry, annoy- 

 ance and expense. He buys a book on horses, 

 and sits down to read up the subject steadily and 

 honestly. He learns, perhaps, how the Darley 

 Arabian, etc., influenced our English breed ; and 

 then commencing a chapter on age and teeth, 

 gets into a hopeless muddle, which a further 

 chapter on anatomy renders a complete quagmire. 

 His horse is perhaps slightly ailing, and the 

 veterinary surgeon has run him up a long bill and 

 made out a long ' case ' out of nothing ; and mean- 

 while his groom, having little or no work to do, 

 is enjoying himself with his friends in the nearest 



