OLD FRIENDS— MEN AND HORSES 219 



cellent rider and first-rate sportsman, Capt. Fitz 

 Amcotts. 



I do not think the original owner, Mr. " Buck " 

 Barclay, ever realized what an exceptional horse he 

 had owned, and if only he could have been kept 

 sound the highest honours of steeplechasing were 

 within his grasp. He was named Baa-baa, and was 

 by Last of the Lambs, though what his dam was I 

 never heard, but am quite sure she was clean bred. 



Another good horse I owned was bred by Mr. 

 Barclay, who gave him to me as a four-year-old, 

 when he was small and seemed unlikely to grow. 

 He however developed later, and eventually reached 

 sixteen hands. 



I was very fond of the horse — christened Buck 

 after the donor — and hated parting with him ; but 

 was offered a good price and had to sell. He was 

 very clever, and I had taught him to jump into his 

 stride with the first sound of " gone away," so that 

 I was nearly always sure of getting a good start, and 

 as I generally rode him with the Belvoir in the days 

 when that pack were famed for their lightning 

 bursts, being " quick off the mark " was all impor- 

 tant. 



I bought a black horse at Leicester one autumn 

 that I rode for many seasons, and he never left my 

 hands until I had him shot. He was a great favourite 

 and a brilliant hunter, but had some peculiarities, 

 one of which was a great objection to allowing 

 another horse to jump a fence in front of him. 

 Bone spavins, which grew worse with age, prevented 

 him flexing his hocks, and in consequence he liked 

 to take his fences at a hand-canter. Like every 

 other horse, he knew at once the place you had 



