36 THE MERRY GEE-GEE 



I am not going to say many words 

 about the breeding of the present-day 

 prize hackney, as for the generahty of 

 them I have the profoundest contempt. 

 Three-parts of the bad-shouldered hack- 

 neys one sees at shows, with their 

 tiring, climbing action, would drop down 

 dead if driven five and twenty miles 

 alongside a sharp blood-horse on a 

 country road. They make a decent flash 

 driven the length of Hyde Park, but beat 

 themselves if they go much further. My 

 model of a hackney is Mr. Carnley's 

 Norbury Squire, who has won more 

 prizes than any other horse in England 

 in harness and hack classes at the shows 

 this past few seasons, I should say. At 

 any rate, I have seen him beat all the 

 other recognized champions in turn ; and 

 whilst it goes without saying that he has 

 extraordinary fine all-round action, with 



