Page:Horsemanship for Women.djvu/147

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
BUYING A SADDLE-HORSE.
133

there are who do not in their hearts long to grant the request; but he is a very busy man, and does not feel as if he could take any more cares upon his shoulders; and very likely he knows little about horses, and really has not the slightest idea how to set about such a purchase; and his mind misgives him as he remembers what he has heard of the tricks of dealers. So he says, "Oh, my dear, I don't see how we can manage it. "We should be cheated, to begin with, and pay twice as much as he is worth, and he would run away and throw you off; and then he would be always sick, and finally fall lame, and would have to be given away before the season is over." This is the critical point of this part of the little family transaction, and if the daughter has nothing more convincing to offer in reply than some vague statement that she is sure she sees plenty of good horses in the street, and that she does not see why her horse should be sick any more than any one else's, and that there must be plenty of good men to take care of him to be had at low wages, then probably her case is lost. But suppose that she replies: "Oh yes, papa, I know a horse that will do nicely and can't be sickly for he has worked all summer and not lost a day and he is eight years old and so has eaten all his wild oats by this time and he isn't a very pretty color but then we can buy him cheaper for that reason and I don't care so much for color as I do for shape and he is very well formed indeed his legs and feet are excellent and he