A MAN OF WEIGHT IN THE COUNTRY. 55 



A farmer who lived near me four years ago then 

 weighed about 20st. ; still he always rode on horse- 

 back wherever he went, and rode hunting too. The 

 horse that carried him the best in the field was a 

 small light-boned well-bred mare, scarcely looking up 

 to 13st. : I need not say she was no cob : he was too 

 good a judge to ride one while he could find any thing- 

 else to carry him. I remember seeing this enormous 

 mass of humanity sitting on a strong-looking horse he 

 was trying under the idea of purchasing : he had been 

 riding him merely about the town for two or three 

 hours, or rather, it being the fair time, he had been 

 only sitting on his back. I saw the horse crouch 

 several times : at last he fairly tried to lie down : he 

 was in fact tired to death. Whether this arose from 

 not having been accustomed to carry weight, or that 

 he was not naturally a strong horse though he looked 

 one, I cannot say ; but it shows that if he was a weak 

 one we must not judge of strength always by size, as 

 I have before stated ; and if he was a strong one, it 

 proves what I have also said, the being accustomed to 

 carry weight is necessary to enable a horse to do so. 

 I am inclined to think, this, and consequently knowing 

 how to carry it, has even more to do in the matter 

 than physical strength; in corroboration of which 

 opinion this person told me he never found a horse 

 that could bear his weight on him for any length of 

 time till he had ridden him nearly twelve months, and 

 then not as he could afterwards do it when more ac- 

 customed to such a burthen. 



So fully was he aware of this that he had rather a 

 curious (and I believe novel) way of initiating his new 

 purchases into the art of weight-carrying. He used 



E 4 



