“One white leg, inspect him;
Two white legs, reject him;
Three white legs, sell him to your foes;
Four white legs, feed him to the crows!”
That is advice to which no attention should be paid at all, unless the markings be such that a person looking for a horse positively dislikes. And that is about the only rule I advise a person not to consider in buying a horse. Everything else should be looked over carefully, for pretty nearly everything about a horse has more or less importance, usually more than less.
The first thing a prospective purchaser should determine is why he wants a horse, and what he wants to do with him. Then he should decide whether he means to buy the horse on his own judgment or on that of some one else. If he means to be his own judge he should go alone; if he means to have a friend select his horse he should let the friend go alone. But he should never take his friend along with him to give advice and assist in driving a bargain. This kind of thing is annoying to a dealer, and tempts him to match his experienced and hard-worked wit with that of the seldom-used judgment of the buyer. That the dealer will win in such a contest goes without saying. I have taken for granted that the buyer will go to a dealer for any advice of any kind is wasted upon one who would buy a horse from a friend, unless he coveted his friend’s horse and wanted that particular animal from personal knowledge of him.
Horse dealers are frequently spoken of as unconscionable rogues. And there is no doubt that many of them do lack the virtue of probity and straight speaking. But a reputable dealer in horses with an established business can be as fair as any other business man, and I have known many such. Such an horse dealer has a reputation to maintain that is as valuable to him as that of a banker is to him. If you will place confidence in him he is not apt to betray it, for he values his customer and knows that there will probably be other sales to make.
But the dealers who advertise in the newspapers that they will sell from private stables horses worth $500 or $1000 for $100 or $200 are the pirates of the trade. They give one excuse or another why such immense bargains are offered, and they make many sales. They are really “confidence-men,” and why the police authorities should permit them to continue in their thieving operations is one of the mysterious manifestations of city life that I could never understand. It was from one of these rogues that the college professor I just mentioned bought his prize pair. Never on any account look for or even at any of these advertised bargains in a private stable. A good horse has a market value and a dealer knows it thoroughly. When he offers to sell below that value, you may depend upon it that he is trying to cheat you by imposing upon your ignorance. Having determined what kind of a horse you want, and what kind of work you purpose doing with a horse, go to a dealer and tell him all about it just as you would to your lawyer or doctor. He will show you horses and quote prices. If the prices are higher than you care to pay tell him that also, and he will show you others. He usually begins with the higher-priced horses, unless he “sizes you up” as lean of pocket-book. But in a large establishment the price you have fixed in your own mind is likely to be arrived at very quickly. Then you must determine whether the horse shown to you is of the quality you desire. But be not deceived by the hope that you can get a very superior and well-trained horse for very much less than he is worth. This can often be done with green horses. By green horses, I do not mean unbroken horses, but horses that have not been educated and developed. A skilful horseman, either rider or driver, will nearly always prefer a green horse because of the pleasure in training him, and also of the chance of securing a prize at a minimum of cost. But an inexperienced horseman will probably never make anything out of a green horse, so he had best not consider such. Having found a horse that seems to meet requirements, the horse should be tried and the reputable dealer will give the buyer every opportunity for such a trial. When the trial is satisfactory, the buyer should have him examined by a veterinary, and if sound the transaction should be closed. Warranties are not of much good. They cannot be enforced except through suits at law; and a lawsuit even when won would usually cost more than the loss on an unsatisfactory horse, if the horse were sent to the auction block immediately. Then try again. To buy one bad horse is no reason whatever for discouragement. One of the Tattersalls said that to have one good horse in a lifetime is as much as a man should expect.
The splendid specimens that we see in the show rings inspire us with the desire to have one or several of these, and as each show is followed by a sale there is our easy opportunity. But I am persuaded that to one not himself a horse-show exhibitor nothing is more unwise than to buy a horse-show winner. These horses are most highly keyed up and trained by most skilful hands. In the hands of one less skilful they rapidly deteriorate and in the ordinary park and road work they lose a major part of that style which originally inspired the purchase. This skill in handling has made itself so manifest that even in the horse shows the managers have been obliged to exclude the dealers from many of the classes. There are professional horse-show exhibitors notwithstanding this exclusion of the dealers, and their horses are probably more unsafe to buy than those of the dealers themselves. No, the horse-show horse is for the horse-show exhibitor.
Another discouraging thing about one’s first horses is the illnesses which they contract. As frequently as not this is due to the inexperience of the new owner, or to the change of home and climate. Dealers buying horses frequently have the animals inoculated against cold and fever—shipper’s fever, it is called. This should always be done as the result has been found to be most excellent. “You can get no use out of a Kentucky horse for the first year,” I have heard New Yorkers say. That may have been their experience; but when treated with the proper serum before shipment they do not suffer to any extent with colds and influenza. There is one disease, however, that I do not know how to provide against—nostalgia. The generality of horses are not very affectionate, for they are not very intelligent, being trained more by fear than anything else and going on in their work through custom. But they do love their homes, and that they should suffer from home-sickness until the satisfaction with the new environment wipes out the longing is inevitable. The homing instinct of a horse is very strong and also interesting. Take a horse ten or even twenty miles in a direction never traveled before, and then turn him towards home over a new route, and he knows it instantly and shows that he knows it by a quickened gait and a renewal of spirit. So these things should be taken into consideration with a new horse, and due allowance made for them.