450 Saddle and Sirloin. 



find was worthy of Herr Kcenig. He jumped nothing; 

 and " Get the hurdle up, or I'll have to get down!' 

 came over and over again in a run. " / never jumped 

 a hurdle in my life : Yes, I did do it once ; I saw two 

 ladies jump a flight in the Stratton country, so I was 

 obliged to follow" was a great saying of his. He 

 never omitted the sequel : " / put my arms round my 

 horse's neck, and saved myself when he knocked the 

 hurdle down'' For his weight, he had good wind and 

 action to the last, and generally led his horse down 

 hill but never up. Rheumatic twinges made it rather 

 hard for him to get into his saddle again, but when 

 he was down and warmed to his work he ran well. 



Latterly he was rather short of heavy weight 

 carriers, but the rat-tail mare, the big bay horse 

 Forester, and old brown Boxer did him good service. 

 Boxer carried him well to the last, and went the same 

 pace all the way, and crept through the most unlikely 

 places. It was " Now, Boxer, come along !" and 

 Boxer would crawl a bit and then " pick himself 

 over" like a very Leotard. The Herefordshire men 

 once sent and asked him to come and have a turn at 

 some foxes which had beaten them at Shelford 

 Bridge, and Luther said it was " like asking advice of 

 an old doctor',' but his horses were knocked up at the 

 time and he had to frame an excuse. 



For nearly thirty seasons he never missed a meet 

 save twice, and on one of those days he was obliged to 

 attend a funeral. Some said that he was unwell 

 on the other day, but very few believed them. Heat, 

 wet, and cold seemed to have no effect on him ; and 

 his fine constitution and abstemious habits made him 

 proof against his habit of rough-drying. He would 

 come home from hunting or farm work wet to the 

 skin, and stand and dry himself before the fire till 

 you could hardly see him for vapour. He lived in an 

 odd, old place, but he kept a good table, and sat at 

 ease with his coat off, his shirt collar and waistcoat 



