BIOGRAPHIES IN A NUTSHELL 167 



Alvaney, the Marquis of Waterford, and Squire 

 Osbaldeston. A further point upon which I lay 

 great stress is that a man seldom develops bad habits 

 unless he has acquired them in boyhood. A man 

 who is cruel to his horse probably started his hunt- 

 ing career by being cruel to his pony. Now Chris- 

 tian's tuition took place at Sir Horace Mann's riding- 

 school at Cottesmore, which was superintended by 

 Stevenson. His own version of his tuition is that 

 he left home in the morning, ostensibly for school, 

 played truant, and went to Stevenson, whom he 

 persuaded to allow him to ride the horses at exercise. 

 It is improbable to the last degree of improbability 

 that the manager of a riding-school would allow a 

 ten-year-old urchin, as Christian then was, to ride 

 valuable horses if he evinced the slightest signs of 

 cruelty. 



As a man Christian was abnormally strong in 

 the arm. and, according to " The Druid," could 

 " lift " a horse over his fences better than any man 

 in Leicestershire. Surely the science of "lifting" a 

 horse over his fences helps the horse, and cannot be 

 called cruelty ! I wonder how many men understand 

 the science ! I have seen many men attempt to 

 " lift " their horses, and the result has generally ended 

 in dire disaster. My own experience is that a horse 

 knows his business better than his rider ; but then 

 there is a difference between riding " made " hunters 

 and the raw 'uns on which Dick Christian held his 

 own in the first flight with the Ouorn. Yet he was 



