314 THE POST AXD THE PADDOCK. 



not forget the half-bred " Cook's Pioneer," by Pio- 

 neer, whose hunting stock were hasty and hardy to a 

 degree. Oakley is a showy but light horse, which 

 accounts for the fact that he never could get much 

 beyond the T.Y.C. in his racing days. 



Latterly, Captain Barlow of Hasketon, near Wood- 

 bridge, has had a succession of sound blood sires 

 through his hands ; among others, Minotaur, Sot- 

 terly, Robinson, Haxby, Wollaton, The Caster, and 

 now a chesnut horse by Recovery, dam by Hampton, 

 who is perfect in symmetry, but not very big. He was 

 Sir Tatton Sykes's favourite^hack, and has the honour 

 of being painted with him in Grant's picture, the 

 good old baronet having ridden him from Sledmere to 

 London in 1850 on purpose ! Elevated by the honour, 

 or the previous sight of his sire's model in the city, 

 the little horse was very riotous in Rotten Row on 

 this occasion ; and. he was equally gay when the late 

 Tom Carter, the huntsman, who was no feather, rode 

 him with the baronet's pack. Minotaur left but few 

 foals a bad fault in a stallion but the few he did 

 get were good and wiry, but rather high on the 

 leg. The stock of the others, Robinson's excepted, 

 is yet untried. Poor old Robinson, who died of 

 inflammation in Captain Barlow's hands some three 

 years since, was well known in the East Riding as 

 perhaps the very best hunter-getter they ever had. 

 After winning twenty-five races he won ten pre- 

 miums, and his colts for years carried off all the 

 prizes at the East Riding shows, as well as the highest 

 prices at the Horncastle and Howden fairs. Mr. 

 James Hall has had a succession of splendid hunters 

 by him in his stud for many years, and he has just 

 purchased the Hunter Prize colt at the last " Royal 

 Agricultural/' which was also one of this family, for 

 250 guineas. They are short-legged, with great sub- 

 stance, good colours, and " so selling-lookmg ;" 

 flashy fore-ends and clever heads, with the hand- 



