HORSE ACTION. 161 



horse ( lope ' as you call it, but gallop as I call it, and 

 trot and walk in short, put him through his natural 

 paces, and leave these new-fangled agonies of a more re 

 cent world alone, they are of no sort of use in the chase." 

 Thus apostrophised, my dealing friend did as he was de 

 sired, but with very great difficulty the horse was kept 

 in such a constrained position. " Here," I cried, to the 

 sable attendants of the stable of the hotel, "take that 

 horrible unicorn saddle off that horse, and put my Eng 

 lish saddle on ; take that gagging bridle out of his mouth, 

 put mine in, and toss away the martingal, and I'll throw 

 my leg across the horse and see what he will do with me." 

 The emphatic way in which I spoke of these things greatly 

 amused a knot of my friends who were looking on, and 

 while the horse was gone into the stable one of them said, 

 " Guess you won't try riding on that English saddle 

 o'yourn arter buffaloes?" "Guess not!" I replied. 

 "Why?" "'Cause if you do," continued my friend, 

 " you'll come to considerable difficulty. What have you 

 got to hold on by gin the beasts make you turn, and 

 mighty sharp ? " " My knees," I said ; " and when one 

 of my hands is filled by my carbine, and the other by 

 the reins, what the deuce do I want with that stupid may 

 pole of yours, unless to hang my hat on ? " This re 

 joinder again intensely amused the by-standers, and the 

 horse having been brought out equipped as I desired, I 

 put him through his very good paces, and showed them 

 that with my double rein the horse never put up his head 

 too much, nor pulled an ounce, though I had to kick him 

 out of his false action whenever he put it on. 



After many horse-dealing scenes of this sort, I selected 



a chestnut horse, but which they called a sorrel, with 



u 



