236 CATS AND HORSES. 



CATS AND HORSES. 



From time immemorial cats have been kept in stables, and 

 when this is the case there is generally a friendly feeling 

 between one or other of the horses and the cat or cats. 

 Such I have known with the heavy, ponderous cart-horse 

 and his feline companion ; such was the case in my stable, 

 and so in many others. Cats are as a rule fond of horses, 

 and the feeling is generally reciprocated. Several of our 

 *' race winners " have had their favourites at home, among 

 others the well-known " Foxhall." " ]\Iany famous horses 

 have had their stable cats, and the great, amiable Foxhall 

 has adopted a couple of kittens, if it would not be more 

 correct to say that they have adopted him. A pretty little 

 white and a tabby, own brothers, live in Foxhall's box, and 

 when Hatcher, his attendant, has rubbed him over, and put 

 on his clothing, he takes up the kittens from the corner of 

 the box where they have been waiting, and gently throws 

 them on Foxhall's back. They are quite accustomed to the 

 process, and, catching hold, soon settle down and curl 

 themselves up into little fluffy balls, much to their own 

 satisfaction and to the good horse's likewise, to judge from 

 the way in which he turns and watches the operation." 



In Lawrence's " History of the Horse," it is stated that 

 the celebrated Arabian stallion, Godolphin, and a black cat 

 were for many years the warmest friends. When the horse 

 died, in 1753, the cat sat upon his carcase till it was put 

 under ground, and then, crawling slowly and reluctantly 

 away, was never seen again till her dead body was found in 

 a hay-loft. Stubbs painted the portraits of the Arabian and 

 the cat. There was a hunter in the King's stables at 

 Windsor, to which a cat was so attached, that whenever he 

 was in the stable the creature would never leave her usual 

 seat on the horse's back, and the horse was so well pleased 

 with the attention that, to accommodate his friend, he slept, 

 as horses will sometimes do, standinsr. 



