THE F.YE OF THE MASTER 79 



back. The worst horse I ever rode was a show 

 hunter that had won his weight in silver cups 

 and prizes, and was as a hunter not worth the 

 shoes he stood up in. 



There is another kind of horse which often 

 appears in sale lists and which, of course, is diffi- 

 cult to detect, and that is the hard puller, such 

 a horse as Mr. Sponge's " Multum in Parvo," 

 for example. Or again, you might find your- 

 self possessed, as I once was, of an accomplished 

 buck-jumper, which had been drafted because 

 he had put down the owner and his groom. 

 The first time I got on him he sent me flying 

 in the first five minutes. This horse had a 

 peculiar and complicated buck, but so far as 

 my experience goes English horses have no 

 perseverance in their bucking. I have seen a 

 Waler in India buck himself clean out of his 

 saddle without breakino- the o'irths, after havine 

 got rid of two rough riders in succession. The 

 Australian buck-jumper goes on till either you 

 are beat or he is, but if you can stick to the 

 English buck-jumper for a short time he gener- 

 ally gives it up. So it was in this case, and he 

 was the best hunter a man could wish to sit 

 across, save that he was a little troubled with 

 the slows. But then he was such a fencer ! He 

 could always go the nearest way to hounds, and 

 was a very easy horse to ride. 



