The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-12-16
TRICKS OF HORSE rRADEas.
How They Play Upon the Vanity of
Customers.
From the Nelr York Iinles.


necessity for a horse dealer, but knowl-
edge of human nat ure is far more essential.
1t is far easier to find a horse for pur-
chaser than a purchaser for horse.
Grooms are often heard to say: 1.-THE
party which belongs 10 the bay, or chest
nut horse, and there is more force in the
expression than might be supposed. The
man who has bought a horse which he is
afraid te ride lest he should fall off, afraid
not to ride lest he should be called a coward,
and afraid to sell lest he should be loser,
is literary the slave ami not the master of
the beast. 1t is he that belongs to the horse,
and not the horse to him.
During the next month or two there will
be many visits to horse dealers establish
ments with view to winter equipment id
horsetiesh. Dealers have now in their stables
stock of horses Of various dispositions and
afflicted with variety OF infirmities, and it
is dealers business to find a customer for
every horse. Like the clerical tailor who
told the young curate that in a certain coat
he would De able to hold any views he
pleased, dealer has generally one or two
horses which would suit any rider or driver,
but they are kept as a last resource. The
horse dealers theory is that every man
and horse has his little peculiar
alties Not only does he try to fit
particular men to particular horses, but a
shrewd dealer varies his treatment of his
customers accord ing to their different DIS
positions. II nervous man comes to him
to buy a nice, quiet saddler he takes him to
some far-away street, far from the elevated
roads and noisy vehicles The horse is given
some soothing medicine, and the customer
thinks him paragon OF virtue-a horse
with whom he believes he can "live happily
with forever after" He anxiously pur-
chases him at the price Of equine perfection,
for h1 @otEl6 e.
and he requires no conditions. A general
smash-up soon follows, and the sold"
buyer eagerly looks around among his
dear friends to find purchaser for his
prize.
If the customer happens to be a recently
graduated coliegian, who wants to buy a
nice, quiet hunter, the dealer takes him to
a convenient farm in Westchester. Two or
three steady horses are taken thither, and
the collegian. anxious to go with the
Meadowbrooks or Essex county hunt, to be
i'll the fashionable swim, is given free per-
mission to try them over any fence he
pleases. He may break all their necKs or
their backs, if he pleases Comforted by
this suggestion, he perhaps rides them
nervously over two or three gaps. Mild as
is the ordeal, he has had what is technically
known as a ''liberaI trial." and he cannot
afterward complain if the horse turus
out a worthless hunter. If he refuses
to LARK" the horse himself and re-
quests that one of his men do it in
stead, the dealer is better pleased lad is
in readiness. whose special business it is to
attend to this duty. In his hands the horses
go over fences like machines. AS the dealer
himself expresses it, "the manners of each
are perfection" at last the boy mounts a
venerable screw, and throwing the reins
loosely on its neck, he puts his hands in his
pockets and rides over small fence. With
some practice this is not by any means an
impossible feat on a quiet horse, and it has
an immense influence on the timid buyer.
The horse is satisfactory, and he asks for no
conditions. Can he afterward grumble
when the horse is lame three-fourths of the
time, refuses to jump water, proves danger
Gus at timber, and drops its hind leg into
blind ditchesl
The dealers method of dealing with
hard-r1ding customer is quite different He
makes no suggestion about going to West
chester or Long Island to him The horses
are only shown in a walled paddock. They
are good-looking and unquestionably sound,
| and they are galloped round and round the
paddock, or street, to demonstrate the ex-
cellence of their wind. The purchaser is
much complimented upon his reputation as
horseman, and the dealer decares that it
is absolutely necessary to supply SO hard a
rider with horses that are not only per-
Aecbiy Sdunu, DuI also exceptionally
strong and hardly in constitution
The customer finally buys three very
good-looking horses, with great bone
and power combined, and plenty of breed
ing. 1t turns out that they are all as
sound as horses ever are, but one is a ter
rifle puller, with a one-sided mouth and
| tendency to swerve at fences. Another is
a confirmed refuser, and the third, although
an exceptionable hunter, is an incurable
at II io ;,,,
| possible to have a pleasant days hunting
with either Of them. But when the pur-
| chaser complains to the vender ne is asked
| if his nerve is quite as good as it used to be,
and whether the dealer shall ask Mr. Girls
void of the Rockaways, or Mr.. E. D.
| Morgan, or Elliot Zborowski, or, perhaps,
| George Work, all fashionable men of the
world, who would be able to make them go,
| if they would like to purchase them. Feel
| ing his honor to be at stake the unhappy
owner of the brutes processes himself salts
| fed with them and endures his misery as
| best he may.
| Like other people, horse dealers OCCASION
ally make mistakes. AS a rule, however,
dealers are NOT very fond of female horse
| customers The latter expect perfection,
and fancy they have been cheated unless
they get it. They buy very readily, but
they return in few days. and, unless
| the dealers will take them back and refund
the money, they tell everybody they have
been treated UNANIMOUSLY. If, on the con-
trary, the dealer takes them back, they give
the horses such bad character hat their
future sale is ruined, or az least materially
injured.
When lady has bought horse she asks
her gentleman friends their opinion of her
purchase. Each finds some fault, and the
lady concludes that she has been terribly
taken in. She persuades the friend who
knows the least about horse trading to ne
gotiate retrade with the dealer, and a
great deal of trouble follows. At first the
champion is said by the lady to be 80 very
kind in this matter" Ali she wants is to
find comfortable home for her .pet and
she hopes that if you buy it you will be
kind to it. 1t ends in this friend purchas-
ing it, often without trial, only to find
himself the possessor of the most perfect
horse, according to his mistress account
that has existed since the original pair came
out of the ark.
| OF course the lady warrants the horse to
be sound, in every respect, but before long
the accommodating friend discovers other
wise. He grins and bears his loss, but per.
haps chance remark about the Investment
may reach her ears, and then she will say
he behaved in most ungentlemanly man
ner." According to the sellers account
there must be very many fine horses in the
world. The past history of the horse about
to be sold, is one of UNMARRIED lustre; his