COL. ANSTRUTHER THOMSON 97 



Madocks ; second whip, John Legrew, veterinary 

 surgeon ; secretary, W. Ormesby Gore, now Lord 

 Harlech. The subscription amounted to ^139. We 

 wore red coats and caps, and blue bird's-eye neck- 

 cloths. 



We had some capital horses. I had " Prisoner," 

 an awful hard puller ; could go fast and jump a 

 house. I bought him from John Elmore the day 

 the Prince of Wales was born, and gave ^200 for 

 him. "Cannibal," the bay horse, 16*3 hands — a 

 very savage horse in the stable ; lots of action. I 

 rode him as charger ; a wonderful timber jumper. 

 One day I rode him down a furrow in a wheat-field. 

 White worsted was put on sticks about four feet 

 high across the field to scare the birds. He insisted 

 on jumping every one of them in spite of all I could 

 do. " John, " the brown horse, a capital hunter — 

 the first horse I bought in 1836 when I joined the 

 9th. I had him eleven years. 



Madocks had a capital grey horse named 

 " Creole," that ran in many steeplechases, and a 

 chestnut, " Sir William ". 



Later in the season Harry Villebois gave us a 

 stag, " Sir Walter Scott ". He was very uncertain, 

 sometimes would run, sometimes not. He was very 

 savage, and could defend himself from the hounds. 

 When turned out of the cart, if he saw two or three 

 horsemen together, he went straight at them ; and it 

 was very ridiculous seeing them gallop in all direc- 

 tions to avoid him. 



We bought another capital stag from Villebois 

 VOL. I. 7 



