VICIOUS HORSES 227 



training. However, my recompense was a dis- 

 dainful glance, and that young lady doubtless 

 left the Meeting in complete ignorance that, 

 when Sea-Song ran twenty minutes afterwards, 

 he might have pulled the race off had he been 

 less eager to savage the jockey, whose mount 

 won by a short head. 



A few horses get a reputation for vice that 

 they do not deserve. For instance, just before 

 Flying Fox's Derby, if his temper was not upset, 

 the much-coveted event was a crift for him. As 

 a matter of fact, that Derby winner was certainly 

 not a troublesome horse, though he was high- 

 couraged, and, not improbably, might fight with 

 a jockey who tried to punish him at the post. 

 As a matter of fact, Mornington Cannon, during 

 a tedious delay, did venture to enliven him with 

 the whip once or twice before the flag fell at 

 Epsom. 



Many a good horse has been spoilt through 

 getting too much corn, and not sufficient work, 

 during a long frost. In one case, a first-rate 

 natural hunter, after being ten days in the stable, 

 was taken out and kept waiting at a railway 

 crossing. An express train flashed by, the 

 engine-driver let off steam, and either frightened 

 the horse or else gave him a good excuse for 

 rearing. Ever afterwards, when a steam whistle 

 sounded close to him, the person who was on 

 or behind him had a lot of trouble ; in fact he 

 nearly reared back into the trap on sighting 

 an engine. Yet this performance was principally 

 due to vice, for directly his head was turned 



