* CRUISER.' 309 



as that of an individual, and in consequence con- 

 siders that the whole of the human race is in league 

 against it. 



I used the term ' irreclaimable ' as applied to a 

 savage horse, but enclosed the epithet in inverted 

 commas to show that it is a word to which exception 

 can be made. I do not consider any horse, however 

 savage, to be irreclaimable, but believe that if brutal 

 and ignorant men have converted the horse into a 

 savage, gentle and wise men can reclaim him from 

 his savagery. Two more ' irreclaimable ' savages 

 never lived than the celebrated horses ' Stafford ' and 

 ' Cruiser,' the latter being about as safe to approach 

 in the stable as a ti^er in his den. 



Lord Dorchester, the owner of ' Cruiser,' stated in 

 a letter to the Times that until Earey took the animal 

 in hand he had not been ridden for three years, and 

 that it was necessary to keep an iron muzzle always 

 on his jaws. His paroxysms of rage would last for 

 several days together, during which time no man 

 dared approach him. He has been known out of 

 sheer frenzy to kneel on the ground and tear up the 

 road with his teeth. 



Yet, it is a matter of history that both these ani- 

 mals were reclaimed in a very short time, and by the 

 sheer power of kindness. I never saw ' Stafford,' 

 but with ' Cruiser ' I was on familiar terms, the beau- 



