FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 



tion, " mouth and manners also to be considered." 

 How refreshing it would be to notice some such 

 classification as this : " Mouth and manners about 

 ninety per cent ; horses also to be considered," 

 and fairly practical as well, for, as every dealer 

 knows, and as every buyer will agree, without 

 these two essentials in their best development, no 

 horse is trustworthy. 



"To balk" is generally interpreted as a refusal 

 to progress, and good old Mr. Webster in his 

 lively little work, sets forth that " balky " means 

 "apt to turn aside or stop abruptly." Mr. 

 Webster is a trifle out on the last definition, 

 however, as "stopping abruptly" implies that 

 there must previously have existed motion, which, 

 alas, is not always within the facts ! No reference 

 is made as to direction, and an animal as truly 

 balks which refuses to back, or to turn either way 

 at the signal of the reins, as the beast which 

 objects to go forward. At the Philadelphia show 

 a few years ago the judges, asking a coachman to ^ 

 back a step away from a puddle of water and 

 mud, found he could not perform the feat ; 

 further investigation revealing the fact that but 

 one entry in the entire class could and would 

 " progress backward," yet several of them had 



lOO 



