246 THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER 



across IiIdi, but all in vain ; defeated and mortified, I 

 returned home, leaving directions to sell him. My 

 warranty did not extend to safety in mounting. I had 

 not been home an hour before word was brought that 

 he had kicked an ostler and laid him up ! I was of 

 course bound to indemnify, as well as cure, the suf- 

 ferer ; and sent the savage brute to Osborn's. The 

 next morning a second groom received a kick that 

 cost me a guinea. I sent the beast to the hammer 

 as a vicious horse. He was sold for more than he 

 cost, but not until he had sent me a third claimant 

 for compensation ! It was a dealer that bought him, 

 and he certainly found a discipline to cure his vice. 

 He killed him in less than a month. 



' I was curious to know the reason of his extreme 

 docility for the first three days after I had him. By 

 a fee to some of the understrappers at the stables I 

 soon arrived at the truth. He had been tied up to 

 the rack both day and night for a week before, and 

 never allowed to sleep except standing ! — enough to 

 tame a tiger, it must be confessed. I lost nothing 

 by him, however, and I gained both a specific for a 

 vicious horse and a wholesome apprehension of 

 gentlemen.' ^ 



Frenchmen are not generally credited with much 

 knowledge of horseflesh, and the following account 

 of the manner in which an Englishman sold a horse — 



' Sir G. Stephens — Adi-ejitnrcs in Search of a Horse. 



