276 THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER 



■without being much, inconvenienced bj the want 

 of sight, if the rider or driver is patient and 

 steady. 



' I remember many years back my old acquaint- 

 ance and infallible doctor, Mr. Minster, of Chelten- 

 ham, having a very fine old gray hunter, stone blind; 

 and when visiting his patients he would often cross 

 the country by the footpaths, leaping the stone stiles 

 with ease and safety. Being one day with a dashing 

 young farmer who was boasting of the feats Ms horse 

 could perform, the doctor took the shine out of him 

 on the instant by proposing a wager that lie had 

 a horse in his stable which could take a leap the 

 farmer's horse could not. 



' " Where shall we go to decide the bet ? " said 

 the farmer, who of course had said " done." 



' " Only into the street," replied the other. 



' Consequently the doctor was mounted on the blind 

 horse in a trice, when giving him the office by the 

 bit (and as Horace says, tliere lies the horse's ear), 

 he made him believe a stone stile was before him, 

 and he took a spring that would have cleared the 

 highest in the parish, to the no small discomfiture of 

 the farmer.' ^ 



And when well treated the horse is capable of 

 great aflFection for the biped who rides or drives him ; 

 the animal will show a great deal of ingenuity in 



' " Nimrod " — Hunting Reminiscences. 



