CHAPTER III 



FAMOUS GENERALS AND HORSEMANSHIP 



I HAVE referred to several of our present-time 

 generals as being more than capable horsemen ; 

 but good horsemanship was not a characteristic 

 of some of the most brilliant generals of years gone 

 by. In discussing this subject with a friend, he 

 told me of a fact that does not appear in Sir 

 George Arthur's book — viz. that Lord Kitchener, 

 in the procession on the occasion of the Coronation 

 of King George, rode the New Zealand bred 

 winner of our Grand National, Moiffa, who was 

 kindly lent to Kitchener by Major- General J. F. 

 Brocklehurst, now Lord Ranksborough. It was to 

 him that King Edward made a present of the 

 gelding after he had failed, 'neath royal colours, to 

 repeat the Liverpool victory he had scored in 1904 

 for Mr Spencer Gollan, I make mention of this 

 because there are some folks who believe that if 

 a horse has been trained and raced he is too apt 

 to become unsettled and nervous and require a 

 good horseman to ride him. This view, however, 

 is very fallacious. In fact the reverse is actually 

 the case, for the more experience a horse has 



the more knowledgeable and sensible he becomes. 



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