104 GOOD SPORT 



carried him at the top of many a good gallop, for 

 he was a keen horse and very fast. In close attend- 

 ance was generally to be seen his great friend Mr. 

 Frank Oates of North Clifton Hall, who also rode a 

 favourite grey horse, Grey Friar, bought from the 

 Rev. F. M. P. Sheriffe ; and when Mr. Cockburn 

 gave up the mastership, this horse was sold to Mr. 

 Edgar Lubbock, his late owner retiring from hunting. 

 George Shepherd was very well mounted, and 

 amongst his best horses, Morley, a dark chestnut 

 up to fifteen stone, carried him three seasons every 

 Saturday across the big grass country in the vale. 

 Another favourite was Bobby, by the Bobby, a 

 good-looking dark-brown horse with a white face, 

 standing on short legs and active as a cat. Shepherd 

 could get anywhere with him in the big drain country. 

 Tommy Giles, with his quaint white markings, comes 

 into the story of many a good hunt, for he was 

 a Httle big horse, hard as iron. A better-looking 

 horse than the bay Victor it would be impossible 

 to wish for, possessing as he did substance and quality. 

 As a stud they were a very nice level lot of horses 

 to look through, with good backs and shoulders, 

 nearly all of them short-tailed hunters with their 

 manes off. The Blankney country requires a bold 

 horse that can gallop, use his head as well as his 

 hocks, for the ditches are wide, the fences strong, 

 and very often the going is holding. The first 

 whipper-in, E. Boxhall, was also well mounted, and 

 a capital heutenant for the huntsman, their united 

 efforts crowning many a good gallop with blood. 

 When Mr. Cockburn gave up the mastership, Box- 

 hall went as kennel huntsman to the West Kent. 



Referring to the diary of 1903-4, the last season 

 of Mr. N. C. Cockburn and Lord Londesborough's 

 mastership, we find many good days' sport recorded. 



