THE HUNTER AT HOME. 159 



out personal violence to him.) Well, this advice was 

 acted upon; the poor horse's throat was cut, and in his 

 last agony he rose to his feet, and staggered a little way. 

 The frantic delight of the owner, as his horse thus demon- 

 strated that his back was as right as that of the elephant 

 at " the Zoo,'' who carries scores of children at once, 

 may be '^imagined, but not described." In another 

 steeplechase I once saw a horse over-jump himself, and 

 fall, and lie with all the wind knocked out of him, with 

 the same recommendations from the bystanders. But 

 the rider, who was also the owner, was a man of patience 

 and wisdom, though only a baby cornet, and he quietly 

 surveyed his prostrate steed for some minutes, at the 

 close of which the animal rose, as well as he had ever 

 been. The juvenile remounted, sent him along, and, by 

 a lucky chapter of accidents, falls, and refusals, not only 

 caught up the leaders, but actually won the race. A very 

 little indecision on the part of this youth would have lost 

 him his horse, as the crowd were absolutely thirsting for 

 his blood. Sprains or "ricks'^ of the back are not 

 uncommon. Sometimes the horse recovers from them 

 perfectly ; more often he does not. In any case advice 

 of the best attainable veterinary surgeon should be taken. 

 Injuries to the back cannot be dealt with by amateurs. I 

 can call to mind two instances of ricked backs at this 

 moment. Both accidents happened with hounds — one at 

 a brook, the other at a fence. The one horse was laid up 

 for a long time, but quite recovered, and was as good 

 a hunter as ever afterwards, which I take to be an 

 unusual instance. The other recovered so far as to go 

 well in light harness, but her hind action was never, 

 to my eye at least, quite the thing. I do not know 

 how she ended, but she went in harness for two 



