XLhc m^nm of Mvnnetav .^57 



horses' mouths about, and therefore, though he courted 

 a fall very often, by galloping down all sorts of lanes, and 

 cramming his horses through blind places, he seldom 

 had one, and never, we believe, a serious one. His 

 horses in his early days were always tvell-bred, never less 

 than sixteen hands, with the very best of shoulders, legs, 

 and feet. Sir Watkin seldom or never " flew a fence," but 

 trained his horses to jump the widest ditches, and even 

 the Grafton and Aldersey brooks, at a stand, to creep 

 through a thick blind fence with a big ditch on the 

 other side; then, when he dropped his hand, his horse 

 jumped, and immediately he scuttled away as fast as the 

 horse could gallop ; thus he got over the country amaz- 

 ingly, and has puzzled and surprised many a young one, 

 who followed him, to see what places his horses carried 

 him through or over, apparently with the greatest ease. 

 A remarkable instance of this occurred on December 

 23rd, 1863, when his hounds found at Sandford Pool, 

 near West Felton, a good fox that ran over the bogs, 

 and then took a good line up to Porthwain lime rocks, 

 where he was killed after a fast forty minutes. Colonel 

 Lloyd and another got over the bog somehow and saw 

 the run. Sir Watkin jumped a drain fully four yards 

 wide, and by galloping down a road got up in time to 

 see the fox killed. Usually Sir Watkin rode the same 

 horse all day until the hounds turned their heads 

 towards Wynnstay kennels.' 



In 1848 all Sir Richard Puleston's old country came 

 into Sir Watkin's hands — and his sway thus extended 

 over the cream of Shropshire, the finest part of the 

 Chester Vale and both sides of the Dee from Wynnstay 

 to the Duke of Westminster's great show-place, Eaton 

 ^all. New kennels were erected at the Park Eytoq 



