THE NOBLE ART OF BACKING WINNERS 23 1 



and, secondly, my brain has become so 

 muddled through hatching this ditty, 

 that the wonder is I am not stark 

 staring mad. I am deeply conscious of 

 the fact that I have now left unsaid 

 many things that I ought to have said, 

 and that I have said things which I 

 perhaps ought not to have said — that 

 I have, in short, made a very big fool 

 of myself (but it won't be the first time, 

 or the last, either, I'm afraid) ; and I 

 suppose the only solatium to such a 

 one as I Is that others may take warn- 

 ing : and whilst I have just enough 

 courage to hope that some of my obser- 

 vations regarding breeding of horses 

 may not be entirely barren of good 

 fruit ; that my chapters on riding and 

 breaking may Impress on some recruit 

 the necessity of loosing their horses' heads 

 at the right moment ; that I have por- 

 trayed the hunting of the little red rover 



