392 A FALL, " D L A MATTER." 



vered in : this gets them into the habit of expecting 

 all this assistance and forcing ; so that, in fact, though 

 a man will be carried by Irish horses extremely well 

 as a whipper-in, it is but few of them that will carry 

 him pleasantly as a gentleman ; in truth, on many of 

 them it is sheer hard work on the part of the rider 

 to make them do their share of it. Paddy has no 

 earthly fear of a fall, or, indeed, of any thing else. 

 I suppose the horse participates in the feeling; for 

 ride him quietly at a fence, he seems to think 

 you mean him to go into it, and into it he will go ; 

 give him a shout and a lift, and the stouter your 

 arms and the stronger your lungs, the higher and 

 further he goes. 



The next objection to Irish horses is their temper ; 

 in this they widely differ from their masters ; you 

 may easily exasperate the latter, touch his honour or 

 his liberty " Och, murther," but it is hard to destroy 

 the cheerfulness of his temper ; the goodness of his 

 heart you cannot destroy : not so with his nags ; 

 there is a want of that generous attachable disposi- 

 tion about them that we find in our horses ; possibly 

 hard usage from their youth produces this sulkiness, 

 and frequent wish on their parts to retaliate, for in 

 sooth their life is not usually a sinecure. I believe 

 this is the fact, and one cause of their usual want of 

 temper ; that is, good temper. 



It may be asked, then, why are not the men of the 

 same country equally sullen and morose, from the 

 same cause. It is not my province, as an English- 

 man, to investigate such a subject ; my only reply 

 will therefore be a very short one: they have Irish 

 hearts. 



