CLEVELAND AND ESKDALE. 181 



a brood mare. When she was being shown every 

 horse exhibited at some of the shows in the 

 north had to jumjD certain fences to the satisfaction 

 of the judges. The jumps were rather formidable 

 affairs compared with what we see now-a-days, 

 and the rails Avere frequently hard and fast. 

 Perhaps the biggest task ever set to hunters in a 

 show yard was when the Durham County held 

 its meeting at Stockton-on-Tees in 1859. The 

 rails were nearly five feet high, were of a most 

 uncompromising nature, and fast. There was a 

 large entry, some fourteen or fifteen appearing 

 before the judges. Lady Bennett, ridden by her 

 owner, cleared the obstacle in grand style, but 

 the bolting, refusing, and tumbling of the remain- 

 der of the exhibits was something marvellous. 

 Of course Lady Bennett won, and shortly after- 

 wards she became the property of Mr. Thomas 

 Parrington, for whom she won a good many 

 prizes, and whom she carried well across the 

 Hurworth country. She eventually became the 

 property of Mr. Smart Atkinson, of Beaumont 

 Hill, near Darlington. For that gentleman she 

 bred several good horses, but her first foal, Joe 

 Bennett, was a long way the best of them, and it 

 is on his extraordinary performances in the show 

 ring that her fame as a brood mare princiioally 

 depends. This colt was purchased by Mr. Brunton 

 at the Cleveland Agricultural Society's show at 

 Yarm in 1868 when a yearling. The list of the 



