404 



THE MODERN SYSTEM 



dote which occurred in my presence some 

 time since, whilst enpjaged in that beautiful 

 amusement. I lent a fine bred and very fiery 

 mare to a friend from town, who had come 

 down to try his Essex dogs against our 

 Wiltshire breed ; at the close of a very fine 

 day's sport, we had to beat a small furze- 

 brake, and, for the purpose of better threading 

 it, my friend dismounted and gave the bridle 

 of the mare to the next horseman. Puss was 

 soon started, the " halloo" was given ; the 

 person who held my mare, in the eagerness of 

 sport, forgot his charge, loosed his hold, and, 

 regardless of any other than his own steed, 

 left muie to run, like Mazeppa's, " wild and 

 untutored." But, to the astonishment of all, 

 instead of so doing, or even attempting to 

 bend her course homewards, (and she was in 

 the immediate neighbourhood of her stable), 

 she ran the whole course at the tail of the 

 dogs ; turned, as well as she could, when they 

 brought the prey about, and afterwards by 

 very much outstripping all competitors, (for 

 the run was long and sharp,) she stopped only 

 at the death of the hare, and then suffered 

 herself to be quietly regained and re-mounted. 

 This I conceive to be certainly an extraordinary 

 proof of a natural love for the sport ; but what 

 renders it more remarkable is, that I had only 

 attempted to ride her twice before after any 

 hounds whatever. The brace of dog's that 

 were slipped at this course were my own, and 

 the groom had been in the habit of exercising 

 them with the mare. Whether this had any 

 effect on her actions I am not competent to 

 give an opinion." 



A VICIOUS HORSE 



Some years ago, the Leinster Journal con- 

 tained an account of a most shockins; occur- 



rence which took place between Dunrow and 

 Ballyragget, county of Kilkenny : — " A stal- 

 lion, the property of a Mr. Shelly, grazing in 

 a field, turned upon his owner as he was pass- 

 ing out at the gate, and killed him. The 

 Horse reared, knocked him down, broke his 

 thigh, seemed to suck his blood, and then tore 

 off the flesh, scattering it about the field. 

 Our postman, who delivers the Journal on 

 that route^ saw the melancholy spectacle of 

 the man's mangled remains, and describes it 

 as one of the most appalling scenes that could 

 be witnessed. Some people having been 

 drawn to the spot began to pelt the Horse 

 with stones, on which he dashed through the 

 field, swam across the river, and was not 

 brought back when our accounts left Baiiy- 

 ragget. No inquest has been held, as before 

 Mr. Phillips, the Coroner, could reach the 

 place, a multitude of people had collected the 

 remains of the body, and removed them into 

 the Queen's County." 



It would be interesting to know now this 

 Horse had been treated, and if his master had 

 given him any particular offence. There is 

 no doubt as much difference in the temper 

 of Horses, as there is in men. Severe cor- 

 rection amongst some boys will only harden 

 them, whilst kind treatment may have a bet- 

 ter effect. It is much easier to spoil a Horse's 

 temper than to mend it ; yet there are some 

 men who have the happy art of ingratiating 

 themselves in the good opinion of even vicious 

 Horses. Such was the case with Jupiter, 

 wliich our readers will recollect when he 

 went into the stables of Parson Harvey. From 

 being a most vicious Horse, he became as 

 harmless as any of his other Horses ; still we 

 believe there may be some so morosely ill- 

 tempered (arising, we believe, in the first iu 



