v/x. 19 



tion — it was never work — made it more evi- 

 dent that the simple change in her life was all she 

 needed ; and, although in constant use from the 

 first, she soon put on the flesh and form of a 

 sound horse. Her minor bruises were obliterated, 

 and her more grievous ones grew into permanent 

 scars, — blemishes, but only skin deep ; for every 

 fibre of every muscle, and every tendon and bone 

 in her whole body, was as strong and supple as 

 spring steel. 



The Park afforded good leaping in those days. 

 Some of the fences were still standing around the 

 abandoned gardens, and new ditches and old 

 brooks were plenty. Vixen gave me lessons in 

 fencing which a few years later, in time of graver 

 need, stood me in good stead. She weighed less 

 than four times the weight that she carried ; yet 

 she cleared a four-foot fence with apparent ease, 

 and once, in a moment of excitement, she carried 

 me over a brook, with a clear leap of twenty-six 

 feet, measured from the taking-off to the landing. 



Her feats of endurance were equal to her feats 

 of strength. I once rode her from Yorkville to 



