162 SPORTING REMINISCENCES 



beautiful person to the stone-wall country because 

 I could get on somehow there, and he bolted with 

 me. He could go faster than I wanted to. He 

 scuttered and stepped across sheets of crags 

 before I stopped him. Later on he repeated the 

 amusement and carried me down a steep place, 

 not into the sea, but a bog from which I emerged 

 wrathfully and went home. This amazing develop- 

 ment required explanation, and Mr. John Ryan who 

 had ridden the horse told me to look at the horse's 

 teeth, that horses will bolt if they have toothache. 



We found a back tooth hopelessly decayed and 

 pulled it out next day, and he never went so fast 

 again. 



A broken-hearted horse is a sad thing to ride, 

 and I have had two, both almost thoroughbred ; 

 one a mare, Vixen, who was overridden as a three 

 year old and could never get beyond a mile when 

 she would absolutely stand still, the other a bay 

 which was quite broken-hearted. He would kick 

 you off when you landed in the saddle if he could, 

 but that was from an old sore back and then, poor 

 beast, he could not go, he would drop from canter 

 to trot and from trot to walk in the most hopeless 

 way. 



A runaway is an unpleasant species of fraud. 

 I had a perfectly magnificent-looking bay, which 

 indulged in this amusement. Cuthbert says he 

 used to " swally his bits and make off." He used 

 to do it at the oddest times, on roads, with hounds 



