OF F^NilRlERY. 



405 



stance from mis-mana2,ement), that we should 

 not place much confidence in, and should look 

 to a bullet as the only cure. 



A gentleman, very fond of Horses, who was 

 travelling by the coach says — 



" I was forcibly struck by an incident 

 which I witnessed, when on a journey (o 

 London, in the Aurora coach. At one of the 

 stages, shortly after we left Reading, a beau- 

 tiful full-bred mare, which they called Fanny, 

 was brought out, with three others, for the 

 purpose of changing ; and it required several 

 persons, and great caution, to prevent Fanny 

 from doina: mischief till the coach started, 

 when she ran as well as possible ; indeed, she 

 was a superior animal for this purpose. 

 Whenever we made a temporary pause on the 

 road, Fanny required an attendant or two to 

 keep her in order ; and, even when we reached 

 the end of the stage, she still continued as 

 viciously inclined as ever, lill the approach of 

 her favourite, when Fanny became as quiet 

 as possible. The horse-keeper, at this stage, 

 was on terms of perfect harmony with this 

 otherwise vicious animal ; this man approached 

 Fanny with the utmost indifference, spoke 

 familiarly to her, and, after unhooking the 

 traces, led her away quietly. I made gome 

 inquiry into the matter, and found that this 

 man had gained the affection of Fanny by 

 kindness and good treatment. With this one 

 person she was quiet in all situations, but 

 almost unmanageable with any other, either 

 in the stable or elsewhere. This same mare, 

 I was informed, had a most unconquerable 

 aversion to a blacksmith ; and, on this account, 

 it was with the utmost difficulty that she 

 could be shod. It is no uncommon occurrence 

 for blacksmiths (who generally shoe Horses 

 \n coufitrv olaces) to strike the animals most 



unmercifully with their hammer or pincers 3 

 and hence may be traced the reason of that 

 dislike so often and so unequivocally testifieu 

 by Horses to these sombre-looking gentry." 



We once had a Spanish gennet, that we 

 purchased at Antwerp, that we suspect had 

 been a martyr to the ill-usage of some of the 

 shoeing tribe. She would almost smell a 

 knight of the anvil a mile off; and it was al- 

 ways at a loss of very considerable time to get 

 her shod, which sometimes would happen at 

 a very inconvenient time for the manifestation 

 of such airs which she assumed. This fas- 

 tidiousness took very considerably from her 

 value. Vice she had not a single particle of; 

 she was the gentlest < reature in the world, 

 and cruel must have been the hand that could 

 have smitten her. Her capering and un- 

 steadiness proceeded from fear, and her sensi- 

 bility was so great, \\hen we first had her, 

 that on going to her stall, she would tremble, 

 and almost jump into the manger. A very 

 little time elapsed, however, before we gained 

 her confidence, and her timidity by continued 

 kindness gave way so far as to allow us to 

 handle her feet and legs ; indeed had we been 

 smiths we think she would have allowed us 

 to shoe her. 



We sold her to a gentleman, who intended 

 her for his daughter, and acquainted him 

 with the only fault we knew she had — the 

 difficulty of being shod. In every other res- 

 pect she was an acquisition for the service 

 she was going to perform ; she was broken to 

 the Spanish fashion (which we will admit is 

 not so much for speed as show,) had a good 

 mouth and (as our jockeys say), would canter 

 upon a shilling. She was so graceful too, so 

 modest in her depoitraemt, that to beat her, as 

 she must have oeen beaten, causes pity for 

 5 K 



