292 SWAPPING HORSES AND HORSE JOCKEY TRICKS. 



horse owner from rushing into the horse-swapping business 

 merely because he happens to have a horse with but a single 

 fault ; as in so doing he often comes in contact with such men 

 as we would, on after-thought, rather not have met ; men (such 

 as Bill Nye once said of the heathen Chinee), " whose ways are 

 peculiar." 



To better illustrate my views in this matter, I will give you 

 some of my own experience in the matter of dealing with such 

 characters. I suppose I could write quite a book embracing 

 all of my experiences, together with those of my neighbors 

 and friends which have come directly under my observation, 

 but the few following cases must suffice. 



I once bought a chestnut mare at auction in the Brighton 

 market ; she was eight years old, and in foal. She had her 

 tail braided and done up in shipping style, in the same way 

 that horse-dealers manage the tails of their best horses when 

 shipping them to eastern markets, to prevent rubbing and in- 

 jury to their appearance. 



The young man in charge of this mare showed her in 

 harness, and demonstrated her kindness and especially her 

 disposition as to kicking by crawling from the express wagon 

 to which, she was hitched out on her back, and by sliding him- 

 self down between the cross-piece of the shaft and her heels, 

 etc., etc. The jockey's story was this : A northern dealer had 

 brought into Boston a car-load of good horses, and as this 

 mare, although one of the best in the lot, had shown to be in 

 foal, she was left over when the others were sold, and as the 

 dealer could not afford to remain in Boston with one horse, 

 and could not afford the expense of shipping a single one 

 back to Vermont, he had placed her in the hands of this 

 clever, honest young man to sell for whatever he could get, 

 while he, himself, set his face toward the north star in order to 

 procure another car-load. 



Now, as this nice young man was no horse jockey or regu- 

 lar dealer, and his instructions were to get rid of the mare for the 

 most money she would bring, and at the least possible expense, 



