RIDING 



CHAPTER VII 



THE COLONIAL HORSE 

 BY THE EARL OF ONSLOW, G.C.M.G. (Governor of New Zealand). 



THERE are few more interesting studies than that of the results 

 of the transplantation of English men and women to the rich 

 and virgin acres of Australasia, and of the untrammelled growth 

 in that genial climate of English institutions. 



Of these none has taken deeper root than the national love 

 for horseflesh and horseracing ; and if the ' proper study of 

 mankind is man,' surely the next study should be that of man's 

 noblest animal, ' the horse.' 



For generations we have systematically snubbed, thwarted, 

 and refused to assist our countrymen in their efforts to trans- 

 plant our manners and customs, sports and pastimes, to every 

 unoccupied corner of the habitable globe. But now that, not 

 by favour, but in spite of a long line of rulers at the Colonial 

 Office, without practical experience of colonial feelings and 

 aspirations, they promise to become the overshadowing branch 

 of the Imperial tree, our attitude towards them has quite altered. 

 Indifference, neglect, and the suspicion of looking on our 

 colonies as incumbrances have disappeared. It has become 

 the fashion to evince the liveliest interest in them and their 

 institutions, to be almost fulsome in their praise ; and lest 

 any of us should be set down as an ignoramus in the small 

 talk of Society, we have pulled out our atlases to see where 

 on earth they are. 



