COL. ANSTRUTHER THOMSON 55 



"Iris" was a bright bay with a wall eye„ 16.2 

 high, got by " King Arthur " ; his dam, "Black- 

 foot"; by "Blacklock". I bought him from John 

 Darby for £1"]^. He was then four years old, only 

 half broken, and a very hard puller. He used to 

 gallop across a field ; when he got near the fence, 

 whip round (always to the left side), and run away 

 back across the field. I used to ride him with a 

 running rein on the curb on the off side, and rode 

 him slantways at the fences, so that when he turned 

 to the left his head was straight for the fence. He 

 never made a mistake at the fences and could jump 

 a house. He could carry any weight, and was the 

 strongest horse in hindquarters that I ever had. He 

 was very quiet in the stable, but very high couraged, 

 and would not bear being touched with a whip. 



I was riding him one day in the forest when he 

 was very troublesome. Tom Percival of Wansford 

 said, " If I were you I wouldn't be bothered with 

 that brute any longer". I said, " Wait a bit". It 

 took two years to get him quiet, and I should never 

 have succeeded had it not been for the care John 

 Pye took riding him during the summer. 



I had one serious fight with him, and he beat me. 

 Luckily Dick was hunting the hounds. They ran 

 into Tailby's country. I was jumping a brook, not 

 very wide, a gap with a broken-down hedge on the 

 other side. Just as I was jumping Nat Langham 

 nicked in before me. "Iris" jumped on to the 

 stump of a root and fell on to his knees. As soon 

 as he got up he turned round and jumped back to 



