LIGHT HOESE. 197 



Lancer is bound to be no featlier^ from tlie nature of his 

 arni_, wliicli cannot be bandied to effect by a ^' dumpy/' 

 Cape horses as troopers I do not like ; they are usually 

 plain^ and often unamiable. The Walers are larger, 

 generally plainer^ and still more unamiable. 



All the cobbler's wax in the world will not retain you, 

 O gentle reader ! in tlie pigskin, if a Waler considers 

 that you are better out of it, and it is quite on the cards 

 that as you go to grass, in the shape of a cocked hat, you 

 may find yourself attended by your saddle, with the 

 girths burst sometimes — sometimes without that forma- 

 lity.* Australian horses, though, are improving, and 

 becoming better bred every year, and they are not all 

 buck jumpers. As artillery horses I admire them much, 

 but they are not my fancy for a Light Dragoon at 

 present. The fourth description of Indian remount is 

 the '^ stud bred." These were (I speak of twelve and 

 more years ago) bred in or near the Government esta- 

 blishments for that purpose. If the stud bred were a 

 good horse, he was a very good one, but he was just as 

 often the reverse, and his temper was in many cases, to 

 say the least of it, variable. He was not unfrequently 

 a " man eater,'' and so a very unpleasant addition to any 

 society. Some years ago the Bengal Horse Artillery had 

 some sweet specimens of this class in their ranks, and 

 this justly-famed corps showed the courage and resolu- 

 tion for which tbey were so universally admired and 

 respected, in nothing much more than in the cool way 

 in which they tackled these confidential creatures ! Arabs 



* The author refers to the extraordinary faculty some Australian 

 horses have of " bucking " the saddle right off over their heads, 

 without bursting a girth or drawing a single D — a feat we have 

 seen performed on more than one occasion, and one which is often 

 referred to by correspondents of the Field. — Ed. 



