HOW TO BUY A HORSE. 49 



that are worthless in which their defects are not 

 easily discovered. A horse with apparently fair 

 action, and without bearing any marks upon its 

 knees, may stumble in a manner that must in time 

 bring it down. A horse may be quiet to ride, and 

 yet have stable vices that render it dangerous, or 

 that will produce incurable disease. 



If the horse is in every way satisfactory after a 

 trial of two weeks, and is passed practically sound 

 by a competent veterinary surgeon, its purchaser 

 will probably have a very useful, perhaps a very 

 valuable, animal, particularly if by regular work it 

 is kept from acquiring faults through idleness. 



If the buyer is not able to pay the dealer the 

 extra price that would be required for the trial of 

 a horse, he may go to the breeder or to the auction- 

 mart for what he requires. From the former he 

 can obtain a sound young horse for a comparatively 

 small sum, and he can either train it according to 

 his own ideas, or place it in the hands of some 

 experienced and careful man until its education is 

 completed. If he elect to follow the latter course, 

 he could not do better than to obtain the aid of 

 Mr. E. J. Axtens of London, or of Mr. Charles 

 Toop of Bournemouth, or of Mr. William Brien of 

 Edinburgh, or of the Messrs. Burgess of Harrogate. 

 I believe that any one of these would, if he under- 

 4 



