8ft4 VICES AND DEFECTS OF THE HORSE. 



p from grass, he in an instant threw the man down with the greatest violence, pitch- 

 jig him several yards over his head ; and after that, he threw every one that attempted 

 lo get on his back. If he could not throw his rider, he. would throw himself down- 

 We could do nothing with him, and I was obliged at last to sell him to go in a stage- 

 coach.' " 



In the next story, Jumper's counterpart and superior, the Irish Whisperer, is brought 

 ^n the stage, and although he performed wonders, he could not radically curj a restive 

 horse. ' At the Spring Meeting of 1804, Mr. Whalley's KING PIPPIN was brought 

 on the Curragh of Kildare to run. He was a horse of the most extraordinary savage 

 and vicious disposition. His particular propensity was that of flying at and worry- 

 ing any person who came within his reach ; and if he had an opportunity, he would 

 get his head round, seize his rider by the leg with his teeth, and drag him down frorr 

 his back. For this reason, he was always ridden with what is called a sword; which 

 is a strong flat stick, having one end attached to the cheek of the bridle, and the othe 

 to the girth of the saddle, a contrivance to prevent a horse of this kind from getting 

 at his rider. 



" King Pippin had long been difficult to manage, and dangerous to go near to ; bu- 

 on the occasion in question, he could not be got out to run at all. Nobody could piu 

 the bridle upon his head. It being Easter Monday, and consequently a great holiday, 

 there was a large concourse of people assembled at the Curragh, consisting princi- 

 pally of the neighbouring peasantry ; and one countryman, more fearless than the 

 rest of the lookers-on, forgetting, or perhaps never dreaming that the better part of 

 courage is discretion, volunteered his services to bridle the horse. No sooner had he 

 committed himself in this operation, than King Pippin seized him somewhere about 

 the shoulders and chest, and, says Mr. Watts (Mr. Castley's informant), * I know of 

 nothing I can compare it to, so much as a dog shaking a rat.' Fortunately for the 

 poor fellow, his body was very thickly covered with clothes, for on such occasions an 

 Irishman of this class is fond of displaying his wardrobe ; and if he has three coats cl 

 all in the world, he is sure to put them all on. 



"This circumstance, in all probability, saved the individual who had so gallantlj 

 volunteered the forlorn hope. His 'person was so deeply enveloped in extra integu 

 ments, that the horse never got fairly hold of his skin, and I understand that he 

 escaped with but little injury, beside the sadly rent and totally ruined state of his 

 holyday toggery. 



44 The Whisperer was sent for, who, having arrived, was shut up with the horse al 

 night, and in the morning he exhibited this hitherto ferocious animal, following him 

 about the course like a dog lying down at his command suffering his mouth to be 

 opened, and any person's hand to be introduced into it in short, as quiet almost as a 

 sheep. 



44 He came out the same meeting, and won his race, and his docility continuec 

 satisfactory for a considerable time ; but at the end of about three years his vice returned, 

 and then he is said to have killed a man, for which he was destroyed." 



It may not be uninteresting, in this connexion, to give some account of this tamer 

 of quadruped vice. However strange and magical his power may seem to be, there 

 is no doubt of the truth of the account that is given of him. The Rev. Mr. Town- 

 send, in his Statistical Survey of Cork, first introduced him to the notice of the public 

 generally, although his fame had long spread over that part of Ireland. W T e, how- 

 ever, give the following extract from Croker's Fairy Legends and Traditions of Ire- 

 land, Part II, p. 200, for his performances seem the work of some elfin sprite, rathei 

 than of a rude and ignorant horse-breaker. 



44 He was an awkward, ignorant rustic of the lowest class, of the name of Sullivan, 

 but better known by the appellation of the Whisperer. His occupation was horse- 

 oreaking. The nickname he acquired from the vulgar notion of his being able to 

 rommunicate to the animal what he wished by means of a whisper; and the singu 

 larity of his method seemed in some degree to justify the supposition. In his own 

 neighbourhood, the notoriety of the fact made it seem less remarkable; but I doubt if 

 any instance of similar subjugating talent is to be found on record. As far as the 

 sphere of his control extended, the boast of veni, vidi, vici, was more justly claimed 

 by Sullivan, than even by Csesar himself. 



44 How his art was acquired, and in what it consisted, is likely to be for eve 

 uil nown, as he has lately (about 1810) left the world without divulging it. Hit ton 



