224 IRiMno IRecoUections anb Uuit Stories 



was out the very day there was a row and a burst 

 up between Mr. Tailby and Goddard. It was the 

 first time George had seen Leicestershire, and he 

 brought down a thoroughbred horse called ' Baby- 

 lon,' that Mr. Ten Broeck gave him. He was an 

 extraordinary hunter in Sussex, where I had ridden 

 him many a time, but too clever for our country, 

 where you must have a flying jumper. Fordham 

 always said before he saw Leicestershire that his 

 horse could double any fence. I shall never forget 

 him trying an ox-fence, and seeing the fix he got 

 into. The old horse wouldn't refuse, but jumped 

 the ox-rail sideways, and there he was, a fixture 

 between the rail and the fence. We broke the rail, 

 after a lot of trouble, and poor old George never tried 

 to double an "oxer " afterwards. He only was out 

 two days, and went away disgusted, as he said nearly 

 everyone went through the gates, which was true of 

 the lot that he got with, the third-raters and the 

 second horsemen. I offered to mount him on my 

 little mare, but he said he wouldn't tide such a hot- 

 headed brute. I never could get him to under- 

 stand that a little animal must go a good pace at its 

 fences in Leicestershire, or it has no chance to get 

 over them. 



Jack Goddard was succeeded by my dear old 



