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Show A GOOD HORSE. "I can't explain what a real good horse is," said one of the best-natured dealers on the street. "They are as different as men. In buying a horse you must look first to his head and eyes for signs of intelligence, temper, courage, and honesty. Unless a horse has brains you can't teach him anything any more than you can a half-witted child. See that tall bay there, a fine-looking animal, fifteen hands high. You can't teach that horse anything. Why? Well, I'll show you a difference in heads; but have a care of his heels. Look at the brute's head - that rounding nose, that tapering forehead, that broad, full place below the eyes. You don't trust him. Kick? Well I guess so! Put him in a ten-acre lot, where he's got plenty of swing, and he'll kick the horns off the moon." The world's treatment of man and beast has the tendency to enlarge and intensify bad qualities, if they predominate. This good-natured phrenologist could not refrain from slapping in the face the horse whose character had been so cruelly delineated, while he had nothing but the gentlest caresses for a tall, docile, sleek-limbed sorrel that pricked her ears forward and looked intelligent enough to understand all that was being said. "That's an awful good mare," he added. "She's as true as the sun. You can see breadth and fullness between her ears and eyes. You couldn't have [?] that mare to act mean or hurt anybody. The eye should be full and hazel is a good color. I like a small, thin ear, and want a horse to throw his ears well forward. Look out for the brute that wants to listen to all the conversation going on behind him. The horse that turns back his ears till they almost meet at the points, take my word for it, is sure to do something wrong. See that straight, elegant face? A horse with a dishing face is cowardly, and a cowardly brute is usually vicious. Then I like a square muzzle with large nostrils, to let in plenty of air to the lungs. For the under side of the head a good horse should be well cut under the jowl, with jaw bones broad and wide apart under the throttle. So much for the head," he continued. "The next thing to consider is the build of the animal. Never buy a long-legged, stilty [?] horse. Let him have a short, straight back, and a straight rump, and you've got a gentleman's horse. The withers should be high, and the shoulders well set back and broad, but don't get them too deep in the chest. The fore-leg should be short. Give me a pretty straight hind leg with the back low down, short pastern joints, and a round, mulish foot. There are all kinds of horses, but the animal that has these points is almost sure to sightly, graceful, good natured, and serviceable. As to color, taste differs. Bays, browns and chestnuts are the best. Roans are very fashionable at present. A great many grays and sorrels are bought for shipment to Mexico and Cuba. They do well in a hot climate, under a tropical sun, for the same reason that you find light colored clothing most serviceable in summer. That circus horse behind you is what many people call a calico, now, I call him a genuine piebald. It's a freak of nature and may happen anywhere." |