THE PULLING " COGNAC ' 319 



had failed. Some of his performances and my own, have been 

 noticed in Bailys Magazine. The secret of my success lay 

 chierty in having discarded the cruelly severe bits in which he 

 had been ridden, and substituting a bit of my own contrivance, 

 consisting of a large t\\\(zV plain snaffle-bit attached to a wide 

 strong pair of reins with stops. To this was added my 

 favourite gridiron-bit, with a short buckled rein which lay on 

 the horse's neck. I invariably rode him on the snaffle only, 

 except when I wanted him to shorten his stride on approaching 

 a road or any cramped place, when I just laid hold of the 

 buckled-rein with the two forefingers of my right hand, releasing 

 his head immediately he answered to my hand. 



He got so used to this that sometimes when I failed to get 

 hold of the rein, owing to its being entangled in his mane, he 

 would feel my fingers fumbling on his crest and pull himself 

 together, just as if I had checked him with the rein. 



I have seen it discussed whether a horse in jumping, ever 

 alights on his hind legs before his fore legs. Of course the 

 great majority of horses do not, but there are exceptions and 

 " Cognac " was one of them. At the first wide Roothing fence 

 I rode him over I thought he must have jumped short, so at the 

 second fence I turned round and looked behind, as he landed, 

 and saw that he had cleared the ditch by a yard and more. 

 The peculiarity of feeling was owing to his having landed 

 first on his hind feet. He did not always do it, chiefiy when 

 he was over fresh and going a great pace. It was an advan- 

 tage as he went away in his next stride without " dwellino- " 

 for an instant. 



(The subjoined extract from an article which appeared in 

 Bailys Alagazine for May, 1876, records the tragical death of 

 " Cognac ") : — - 



" Those who have hunted with the Surrey Staghounds, the Queen's, 

 and Baron Rothschild's, as well as with the Hon. Henry Petre's Stag- 

 hounds, must remember Mr. Vickerman's hard riding, and now that he 

 retires into Wales, to his country seat, he will carry with him the good 

 wishes of all whose pulses quicken at the sound of the cheerful horn. 



" Mr. Vickerman was an unexceptionably good judge of horses. He 

 had three very fine horses, ' Carlow,' ' Cognac ' and ' Champagne ' ; and 

 when he sold ' Cognac,' which was a queer tempered horse, he predicted 

 that he would either break his own neck or his rider's. Mr. Souter, who 

 rode ' Cognac ' at Hendon Steeplechases, told me of the truth of the 

 prophecy. Mr. Souter was leading with Jem Mason, and Mason's horse 

 fell and broke his thigh. ' Cognac,' missing his companion, became like a 

 lump of lead, and would not rise at the next fence, but rushed right 

 through it and bvoke his neck." 



Mr. Vickerman writes in such a clear and lucid style that 

 not for a moment could I entertain his suggestion to cut down 



