128 HUMANE HORSE-TRAINING 



belonging to Mr. W. C. Blackett, a mining engineer, was 

 put to work in the Kimbleside pit in 1876, when he was 

 five years old, and was employed there for twenty-two 

 years. During that period he was never sick or sorry, 

 and had only two holidays, one of six weeks in 1879 and 

 the other of thirteen weeks in 1892, the respites in 

 question being due to the existence of strikes. Hard 

 work, however, did not affect this pony in the least, as 

 he was equal to winning third prize in the pit -pony class 

 at Durham in 1896. 



Another very similar instance of a horse which 

 thrived upon a life of hard work is that of Jack. This 

 horse, however, is not environed by any shadow of 

 romance. His record is simply one of twenty-two years' 

 regular work in the Keswick and Ambleside coach. 

 When he was last heard of he was twenty-six years' old. 



A veritable equine Methuselah was Old Bill, the 

 property of the late Mr. S. Francis Petrie, of Edinburgh. 

 This horse lived for sixty years, being shot in the end 

 on the death of his master. Old Bill was worked gently 

 up to the last, and it is reputed of him that his temper 

 was at no time amiable. No doubt can be entertained 

 regarding the accuracy of the above statements, as they 

 were supplied by an eminent veterinary surgeon whose 

 father had attended Old Bill for nearly half a century. 



