42 HORSE-MASTERSHIP 



been taken up to any extent. You may 

 remember that when Orby went over from 

 this country to win the Derby of 1907, the 

 Press were very loud in their expressions of 

 opinion that nothing so good as a Derby 

 winner could possibly come out of Ireland ; 

 and indeed, almost the only piece of en- 

 couragement — if it was encouragement — we 

 got was the statement which went the rounds 

 of the papers, to the effect that "no matter 

 where Orby finished, he would have a long 

 tail behind him." He and Volodyovski were 

 the only two horses, I think, that ever won the 

 Derby with long tails ; but I am rather keen 

 on the long tail left to grow in Nature's way, 

 and, in any case, I have a perfect horror of a 

 docked tail — a barbarous cruelty for which I 

 would give a man " time " if I had my way — 

 or any tail so cut and squared off that it looks 

 like a docked tail. I got the idea of leaving 

 horses' tails long and flowing from seeing the 

 use they made of these instruments to flick 

 off flies during the summer months, and I 

 heard a traveller's tale of horses' tails which 



