iow. The cunning horse-cheat well knows this; and should 

 an animal come into his hands with undtfdbted symptoms of 

 having topped the hUl of life, or, rather, that has gone a year 

 or so down what is generally considered the wrong side of it, 

 it is the cheat's business to conceal this fact, and he wiU no 

 Inore admit that a haiae of his is more than " risiag six years," 

 than certain, maiden ladies wiU ever confess to h§ more than 

 " twenty-seven." The horse-cheat, howeter, proceeds to lengths 

 to give colour to his mistatement that would without doubt 

 daunt the most strong-minded spinster in England. The horse's 

 teeth are the teU-taJes, so they must be made to tell a false tale. 

 A black mark on the surface of the tooth denotes that the 

 animal has barely reached its sixth year, therefore the seven or 

 eight year old horse is cast, and with a sharp-pointed steel in- 

 strument a little hole is dug on the surface of the corner incisor, to 

 which a red-hot iron is afterwards applied. An indelible black 

 mark is thus left on the tooth. Sometimes the roguery is car- 

 ried further: the neit tooth is slightly touched with the en- 

 graver and the cautery ; but here the dishonest dealer generally 

 overreaches himself, for the form and general appearance of a 

 six-year-old horse can rarely be given to one who has passed 

 his eighth year : that is to say, such a cheat would not pass 

 with a person who'sS business it is to study the shape and 

 make of a horse. I am airaid, however, that you or I, reader, 

 would find it a difficult matter to detect the fraud. Tor my 

 part, if it is ever my good fortune to affijrd to keep a horse, or 

 even a pony, I shaill prefer to place the purchase-money, with 

 the little fee over, in the hands of a respectable veterinary 

 surgeon ; and, unless the reader is either very knowing or very 

 obstinate, he will do well to follow the same plan. 



Not, be it borne in mind, that a horse is useless for all ordi- 

 nary purposes when he has reached his tenth or twelfth year. 

 If he has been well kept he may have twenty good years of 

 life in him — ^in the hands of a good master he has been known 

 to attain the ripe age of forty years. This, however, is not the 

 animal that exists chiefly on chaff and draws a sand-cart, or 

 the unlucky brute who has the advantage of the invigorating 

 air of Blackheath to set against the drawbacks of a continu- 

 ously yearning belly and ten hours a day up-hiU fagging be- 

 strode by cockney equestrians. 



With regard to the general management of the pony, it may 

 be fairly assumed that in all matters pertaining to harnessing, 

 bedding, cleaning, &c., &o., the lad in whose care he is placed 



