424 KINDNESS TO HORSKS. 



equines, is unattainable, and, as Jorrocks points out : 

 '' If his 'oss is not so good as he might be, let him cherish 

 the reflection that he might have been far worse ! " 



I think that the native syces of India, like the 

 Russian ishvoshik (cabman), treat their equine 

 charges with far greater sympathy and kindness than 

 our English grooms and cab-drivers do. In India we 

 ride stallions ; my grey Arab, Fig. 7, was an entire, 

 and was so kind and gentle that he was always most 

 careful not to tread on his syce who slept in his box 

 with him, rolled up in a corner, like a bundle of old 

 clothes. When Gowlasher, which was the man's 

 name, groomed him, the pony would playfully catch 

 his arm between his teeth and make a pretence of 

 bitino- it, but he never allowed his teeth to hurt the 

 skin. Gowlasher liked to show me the funny little 

 tricks of this animal ; but if Freddie had attempted 

 to touch the arm of an English groom, he would have 

 been promptly struck across the muzzle, because his 

 playfulness would have been misunderstood. 



It is not the custom in this country to hunt or hack 

 stallions, which are often led out for exercise with two 

 men hanging on to their heads, both armed with stout 

 sticks. Magic, a grey Arab entire, which we brought 

 home from India and sold to Colonel Walker, of 

 Gateacre, who won several pony races with him, 

 carried me quietly in the Row, and his new owner 

 found him a very clever polo pony. When passing 

 through London on my return from a visit to Russia, 

 we put up at an hotel in Oxford Street, where the 



