GOOD HORSES AND FRAUDS 165 



as little fear as the pony and saw every good 

 hunt she came in for this year. Amongst other 

 jumps the pony cleared a river which everyone 

 was walking in and out of.^ 



Of the dozens of horses which have come and 

 gone, only one has proved unrideable, a light- 

 weight thoroughbred, Torpedo, which so frightened 

 my grooms that I had to give him up and he broke 

 his back, poor beast, racing. 



I come down to my present stud of four, two of 

 which are going — to Sandy my chestnut, so called 

 because he is alwa3^s straying, a funny excitable 

 little horse, taking infinite patience to ride him, 

 yet without an ounce of real temper and a perfect 

 ride when hounds are going. No one could stand 

 his fidgety nonsense until he came to me, and he 

 used to pull. Now he pretends to. . . . He hunts 

 two half-days a week regularly and when he fell 

 with me (he was in too great a hurry to notice that 

 a lane was not a ditch and tried to clear it) , he put 

 his nose down and whinnied and regularly picked 

 me up. Poor Sandy, he has no forelegs, and only 

 one hind one, but he scutters along as if they were 

 all iron and never carries anyone except myself. 

 Personally I believe that horses think things out. 

 My little niece used to come up to exercise horses 

 and both the quiet ones had been out. There was 

 only Sandy, who will carry Cuthbert sometimes 



^ Since writing this little Miss Watt has died, regretted by every- 

 one who knew the gallant child. 



