210 THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER 



CHAPTER XV. 



FEATS OP HORSEMANSHIP : IN THE RIDING SCHOOL 

 AND OUT OF IT. 



WHEN one lias learned to ride well it is astonishing 

 to find how much can be done on the back of a 

 good, well-broken horse. Turpin's ride to York is 

 often spoken of as an instance of good horsemanship 

 and of endurance on the part of the animal, but 

 modern researches have shown pretty conclusively 

 that Turpin never did anything of the kind. An- 

 other man did accomplish that great ride, however, 

 and the fact is thus related in All the Year Round., 

 under the title of < Old Stories Re-told ' : 



c The myth is founded on a real incident. In 

 1676 one Nicks, a robber haunting the road between 

 Chatham and London, to rob sailors returning to 

 town with their pay and Kentish traders on their 

 way to London, plundered a traveller at four o'clock 

 in the morning on the slope of Gadshill, the spot 

 immortalised by Shakespeare, and for ever associated 

 with Falstaff's delightful poltroonery. Being on a 

 blood mare, a splendid bay, Nicks determined to 



