INFLUENCE OF SERVANTS. 215 



We understood each other, and as the expression of his 

 opinion was always in private it did no harm, and we still 

 remain the best of good friends. 



The removal of horses from one trainer to another perhaps 

 has the most ludicrous basis in. the following instance. An 

 Irish gentleman sent me a horse to train, a two-year-old with 

 a tail dragging the ground. I cut it, as is usual with race- 

 horses ; and in due course the owner arrived, and seeing it 

 squared, was so annoyed at my presumption in cutting a hair 

 of his horse's tail without his express permission, that he 

 never forgave me. However, as it was near the time the 

 horse had to run, he allowed him to remain till after the race. 

 He ran and won (as was expected). But the owner imme- 

 diately removed him, and has never trained with, or indeed 

 spoken to, me since. 



Other dread enemies to trainers and to the peace of mind 

 of their employers are old servants, for these add to ignor- 

 ance, officiousness in telling their masters how horses should 

 be trained, and refer them to the looks of their own carriage- 

 horses as a test of their masterly ability in the treatment 

 of their stud. The intention is probably good and the zeal 

 undoubted. But as the experience of these worthies, often 

 invaluable in their own sphere, is limited to that gained 

 from the box-seat of a carriage, they are not exactly the 

 authorities I should like to quote on the condition of a race- 

 horse. Yet not unfrequently masters not only listen to, 

 but implicitly believe in, their doctrines. The late Lord 

 Palmerston, who all his lifetime had trained with my father 

 and with my grandfather before him, removed his horses 

 from their old quarters at Danebury at the instigation of 

 an old and petted pad-groom. This self-confident person 

 wanted his lordship's horses to be tried when they were 



