4. Work Only.—He must be a good worker, but everything else goes with him. Ability to work is the only thing guaranteed.
5. Legs Go.—Everything that is on the horse’s legs go with him. Nothing is guaranteed except that he must not be lame or crampy. He must, however, be serviceably sound in every other respect.
6. At the Halter.—Sold just as he stands without any recommendations. He may be lame, vicious, balky, a kicker or anything else. The title only is guaranteed; the purchaser takes all the risk.
[2] Exceptions to the above rules may be announced from the auction stand and defects pointed out, in which case they are recorded and go with the horse.
Reputable Dealers Protect Their Patrons.
The horse buyer who patronizes a reputable commission firm or dealer in the Chicago horse market, or in any other great selling centre, will be honestly and fairly dealt with. The rules against cheating are stringent, and trickery is not countenanced among the leaders of the trade. Doping an unsound horse may be punished by expulsion from the market, and tricks, like the application of “soup” to make a horse act mean, are prohibited on “horse row.” It is when a buyer deals with a “scalper” who conducts his business “under his hat,” or patronizes the dealers who conduct a questionable business at small sales stables on the side streets near the stock-yards, that he may expect to get “the short end of the deal,” and we would strongly advise our readers to give such dealers and sales stables a wide berth.
As an illustration of how dishonesty is regarded among horsemen in some of the markets, the following well-authenticated incident may be told. In Kansas City a horse that had been overdosed with drugs to conceal the symptoms of heaves dropped dead while climbing an incline. The story of the “accident” spread through the market, and the next morning, when the owner of the drugged horse offered another of his animals in the auction ring, the auctioneer is said to have stopped, told the story to the audience, pointed out the man who gave the drugs and the owner, and added, “Now, this man has a load of horses to sell to-day and you folks can be your own judges about buying them.”
The seller from the country is as likely to “put up a job” on the commission man or dealer as the latter is to cheat the greenhorn buyer, and we agree with Dr. Hawley, who says: “Horsemen in general are not more dishonest than men in any other branch of business which offers like opportunities for trickery; neither do I believe they are more dishonest than the men who buy from them.”
Two Sides to a Horse.
When a horse is first led out for the intending buyer to examine him in the dealer’s stable, it is a common trick to stand the animal close against a wall. By this means objectionable features of the “other side of the picture” are hidden, and the pleasing aspects of the proposition, plain to the eye and hand of the purchaser, alone are considered by him in making his choice. If the horse is sold subject to such examination and without a written guaranty, there is no recourse for the purchaser when, perchance, the next hour or day he finds on the off side of the horse a “wall-eye,” a brand mark, a big shoe boil, a knocked-down hip, a fistula of the withers, or some other objectionable and troublesome or even seriously hurtful blemish or condition.