The horse and the war . r total innocence in this respect is of course theraison detre of their visit to the auctioneers. If you want to see the real expert at work watch one of these prospectivebuyers. He may be a horse-dealer with forty crowded years of experiencebehind him in the humble line of business, a dealer in antiques, has beens,and crocks. He may be a rural butcher with a taste and capacity for occa-sional horse coping ; or he maybe the inevitable bargain-hunter who is atevery sale and horse fair. They were certainly not born yesterday, as it were,and they get up very early in the m
The horse and the war . r total innocence in this respect is of course theraison detre of their visit to the auctioneers. If you want to see the real expert at work watch one of these prospectivebuyers. He may be a horse-dealer with forty crowded years of experiencebehind him in the humble line of business, a dealer in antiques, has beens,and crocks. He may be a rural butcher with a taste and capacity for occa-sional horse coping ; or he maybe the inevitable bargain-hunter who is atevery sale and horse fair. They were certainly not born yesterday, as it were,and they get up very early in the morning and remain fairly wideawake whenany business is doing. He knows where to look for the cause of he cannot find tendon troubles about the heavily-fired legs, serious bonyenlargements, or spavins, he knows how to test the patient for his eyesight,and if he is still mystified he watches his opportunity to use his stick to see ifthe animal grunts to the flourish of it and so reveals his wind infirmity. Some-. C3 •0X1 120 THE HORSE AND THE WAR times he even attempts to seek light from the severely non-committal Remountofficer in charge like an importunate and insinuating backer essays to wormhimself into the confidence of a trainer or jockey on the racecourse. For,of course, it is important that the speculator in Army casters should notallow himself to get too badly stuck. He knows there are risks, and hisways of trying to reduce them never failed to raise my admiration of hisresource and his knowledge of cheap horseflesh. They cluster at the foot of the auctioneers rostrum after the approvedmanner of buyers at Tattersalls in London and laugh derisively when thesalesman expatiates in a professional manner on the virtues and limitlesspossibilities of the ex-cavalry horse. You see he is doing his best for theGovernment and taking every care that he shall earn his commission. More-over, most auctioneers I have seen at work have entered into the spirit of thesale and h
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