52 THE LIFE OF A HUNTER 



Whether this was natural to him, or because 

 his tackle was always as rotten as pash, I 

 never found out. I remember that when 

 a rising three -year -old I was shipped to 

 Liverpool, and this voyage left me with 

 the worst illness I ever had in my life, 

 which they called a steamboat cold, and I 

 felt wretched for weeks after. I have 

 noticed it takes more than a year to get a 

 young Irish horse into condition, often two 

 years ; for in Ireland they will take up a raw 

 young horse, give him a slight education 

 before he has got hard meat into him, and 

 then shut him up in a box and feed him, as 

 if he were a pig, on boiled potatoes, boiled 

 corn and turnips, and anything that comes 

 handy. He is then sold, and goes to 

 England, and often arrives running at the 



