CLEVELAND AND ESKDALE. 183 



whistler. He went triumphantly through the 

 ordeal, but pulled off his shoe and got a bad over- 

 reach in the dee]) ground ; and thus all chances 

 of sale at that time were lost. 



His ultimate fate was a sad one. He was 

 found dead in the paddock one morning, and the 

 cause of his death was never clearly ascertained. 

 His owner was of opinion that he had accidentally 

 taken some rat poison which was laid about ; but 

 the more probable hypothesis is that he had 

 succumbed to a sudden and severe attack of 

 inflammation. 



Joe Bennett was a bright bay, by Harkforward. 

 He stood about 16 hands 2 inches high, had 

 beautiful shoulders, head, and neck, but was 

 rather light in his back ribs, and, if anything, 

 rather on the leg. His quarters were wide and 

 muscular, and he had plenty of clean flat bone. 

 His feet were his weakest point. They were 

 rather small and inclined to be brittle ; and he 

 got a nasty way of pulling off his shoes. Whether 

 this was to be attributed to the continual dressing 

 his feet for showing, for it must be remembered 

 that a "pretty foot" was fashionable in his time, 

 we do not know, but we fancy he must have been 

 a difficult horse to shoe. His action all round 

 was good, and in his gallop it was superb. Indeed 

 his light corky galloj^, and the beautiful feel he 

 gave to those who rode him, won him many a 

 prize. 



