158 MY HORSE; MY LOVE 



So the hackneys must have been quite up to the descrip- 

 tion of an English saddle-horse, — 



' His head is like the snake, 

 His neck is Hke the swan, 

 His back is but a span, sir, 

 His shoulders well put on, 

 Is my fine old English hackney, boys, 

 One of the olden times ! ' 



Let those who doubt the power, capacity and endurance 

 of Arabian horses, note the following extraordinary feat of 

 horsemanship in 1758. 



For a wager of two hundred guineas. Miss Pond under- 

 took to ride the same horse, one thousand miles in one 

 thousand consecutive hours (forty-one days and eight 

 hours), and won her wager easily. 



A few weeks later, her father rode the same horse 

 one thousand miles in six hundred and sixty-seven hours, 

 two-thirds of the time. 



Unfortunately the name of the horse is not given, but 

 he was of Arab blood. 



