186 SPORTING REMINISCENCES 



any country." When his hat bill had reached a 

 sum which he had never considered, he began 

 sulkily to mutter that he'd better get rid of the 

 brutes. The ponies used to try to get over by 

 pace and if they did not quite do it the fall was 

 what the men call la^-mentable. 



Everyone has a real good horse to sell you when 

 you come to a strange country, which for some 

 reason they do not just want at the moment. 



One of the best hunters I have ever seen was 

 bought at Bartemley Fair by Mr. J. Barry for 

 fifteen pounds. He was something like a centi- 

 pede, 16.3, with ' two great ends ' on him, as his 

 purchaser told me. His rider was clamped some- 

 where in the middle of his hollow back and 

 pounded to a jelly by his action, but he could 

 gallop and stay and jump and became his next 

 owner's most precious possession. If I could have 

 endured the hammering of his action I should 

 never have parted with him. 



Never judge a shoulder until you get on to a 

 horse, the lumpiest looking may give you a perfect 

 ride and a horse which looks perfection may use 

 himself all wrong. A touch of hackney blood 

 gives a shoulder which looks just right but which 

 just fails you at the first mistake. A horse with a 

 bad shoulder turns over like a shot rabbit. The 

 one who uses himself really well " will be fallin' 

 till he knows where he's fallin' to," as Cuthbert 

 says. I hate sitting on a horse's ears, and would 



