62 SECOND TRIP TO RUSSIA 



At last instructions came from the Grand Duke Nicholas 

 that I was to proceed with General Derfelden of the 

 Russian remount department, to the remount depot of 

 Shandrovka, which is in Little (Southern) Russia and is 

 about 150 miles north of the Crimea. I received the 

 liberal allowance of 300 roubles (30 guineas) from the 

 Minister of War for my expenses, and the general, Dick 

 and I started by train from St. Petersburg with a Colonel 

 Ismailof, who was on his way to the Grand Duke Dimitry's 

 horse-breeding stud at Doubrovka, of which he is in charge. 

 This officer spoke English fluently, was very pleasant, 

 and had lived for some years in America, where, so the 

 general told me, he had worked as a labourer. He is full 

 of energy, rather stout, and although he is not a riding 

 man, he is fairly well up in English and American horse 

 literature. During the World's Columbian Exposition of 

 1893 at Chicago, Colonel Ismailof took out for the show 

 several Russian horses, chiefly on behalf of the Grand Duke 

 Dimitry and the Russian State Administration of Studs 

 and Horse-breeding. Starr, the American trotter trainer, 

 tells me that the Americans did their best to encourage the 

 Russians by giving prizes to their animals, although they 

 did not admire them much. In fact, one prize-winner 

 fetched only 30 dollars when put up for sale. 



On our long railway journey, General Derfelden was 

 silent, depressed, and apparently bored on account of 

 being obliged to see a system of breaking which could, 

 in his opinion, by no possibility be equal to the old 

 Russian plan that has been practised since the year 

 one. It was also hard on him to be sent into the wilds 

 with us, away from the winter gaieties of St. Petersburg 

 which were just commencing. I was sorry to have been 

 the cause of his dejection, and tried my best without 

 success to remove it by talking "horse," which was a 



