164 SPORTING REMINISCENCES 



Meekly I " follyed him on " to pick up the hounds 

 on the next road and discovered that Handy 

 Andy as a hunter was a thing to abandon. 



He went quite well afterwards in the stone-wall 

 country, but he was sold to go between shafts and 

 not to " folly on " little boys through gaps. 



Some horses, on the other hand, will not jump 

 in the ropes and yet go brilliantly to hounds. 

 This was the case with King James, a big chestnut 

 now happily carrying a pretty girl here. Nothing 

 would get him over a fence and nothing stops him 

 now if the pace is not too fast. He is the boldest 

 of hunters if a little on, what Mr. Browning calls, 

 the agricultural side, a very clever description of 

 a commoner. 



One horse, or rather pony, not my own, I must 

 mention. His picture with his gallant little rider 

 up is in the book. He is little Majorie Watt's 

 Blackbird, thirteen hands, ridden here this season 

 (1914-15). He is a fifteen-stone blood hunter in 

 miniature and no fence is too big for him. I saw 

 him get right on to a bank near Ballinacura which 

 was too high for some powerful hunters ; and his 

 little owner, who was only twelve and stood five 

 stone, could walk him under timber and then ride 

 him back over it. She followed her father, who has 

 been stationed here with the South Irish Horse, 

 and is one of the best-known men with the Meath. 

 I asked for Blackbird's photograph, he is so 

 extraordinary. Little Miss Majorie herself knew 



