Buying a Horse

Te Aroha News, Volume XXVII, Issue 43340, 20 June 1908, Page 3

Buying a Horse

The following i$ a flipping and may prove interesting, and perhaps amusing to some of our authorities on the infirmities of a gee-geelf you want to buy a horse don’t believe your own , brother. Take no man’s word for it. your eye is your market. The weak points of a horse can be better discovered, while standing than while moving. If he is sound he will stand ■r .firmly and squarely on his limbs with- ' out moving any of them, and feet flat . upon the. ground, with legs plumb and naturally poised, says a correspondent; .If the foot is lifted from . *ke ground and the weight taken from it, disease may be expected, or at least tenderness, which is a precursor of disease. If the horse stands with his , feet spread apart there is a weakness in the loins. Never buy a Jtprsein harness. Unhitch him and take, everything off but his halter, and lead, him around. If he has the ' spavin or is stiff, or any other failing, you can see it. Back him, too. Some torses show their tricks then, when , they don’t any other time. ■Be as smart.as you know how, and you may make mistakes. A horse may look very nice,, and go a great pace, and yet have fits. You can’t tell it till

something happens* He may have a weak back. Give him the whip and off he goes for a mile or two; then suddenly he stops. After a rest he ■tarts again, but he soon stops for good, and nothing but a derrick could inwove him. A bad tempered horse will keep . his ears thrown back. A kicker will have scarred legs. A ■stumbler will have blemished knees.