AWILDCOLT. 85 



and as the Falcon also runs back to the same distin- 

 guished source, through Lady Lightfoot, Henry, Bacchus 

 and young Janus. She was a race nag of no ordinary ca- 

 pacity, beating, among others, Little Flea, Lithgow and 

 Diamond. Her trotting step is very fine, swinging off 

 with such a loose, open gait that only needs cultivation 

 to make fast. When this fellow eventually made his de- 

 but, my anxiety was put at rest so far as shape was con- 

 cerned. There never was a better made foal- dropped. 

 It being my usual custom to handle the foal from the 

 very outset, I made my approach cautiously, but never 

 deer or untamed stag was more frightened than he. He 

 rushed at the sides of the box as though he would break 

 them down. Thinking, if once cornered and caught, he 

 would be likely to forget his great fright, I got hold of him 

 and sincerely believe if I had held him ten minutes his 

 heart would have burst. His efforts were as frantic as the 

 struggles of a madman, and after releasing him his heart 

 beat so violently, that it shook his frame. As he grew 

 older he became worse, and if a person went into the 

 stall, no matter how cautiously, his excitement was in- 

 tense. When the mare was turned out to pasture, he 

 would not mingle with the other colts, and if he chose 

 to play, it was always by himself. When his mother was 

 brought up to feed, he stalked majestically in the rear, 

 every motion showing that he was fearful of falling into 

 an ambush, and was on the alert to prevent it. His dam 

 proved a poor suckler, and though bruised oats and car- 

 rots were fed her, she would not even nibble at the tempt- 

 ing food. That fall he was thin in flesh, but rather above 

 the ordinary size, and as the mare was not in foal, I de- 

 termined to let him suck through the winter. The box 

 was roomy, and, after he became familiarized with living 

 there, I placed a feed box out of the reach of the mare, 

 and fixed her own too high for him to reach it. He would 



