-12- 



name, refused double that sura from a dealer. 



That was a chance. to pick up a cheap one, but 

 the buyer would have had to be quick, and if he had 

 come back in half an hour, I don't suppose I should 

 have been on. However, there does not appear to 

 be any other moral in the tale, for I do not recom- 

 mend anyone to buy unsound ones. It is difficult 

 enough to keep the sound ones fit if sport is good 

 and you are shoving them along. 



One thing I would Impress on a lad: don't be 

 afraid of buying a horse because he goes badly 

 with another man whom you consider a superior rider 

 to yourself. He may have a groom that upsets it; 

 he may have too many horses, and this one may not 

 get enough work to steady it. He may once, through 

 his own fault, have got wrong with the horse, and 

 horses never forget. You may, too, be better than 

 you think, and the other man may be beginning to 

 feel the loss of nerve, though still a secret between 

 himself and that particular horse in whom he has 

 lost confidence. And, above all, remember that a 

 horse may go badly with one man and well with another, 

 quite independently of their merits as horsemen. 

 I know one very peculiar case bearing in a manner 

 on this. The horse had been a good one, but gradu- 

 ally got the better of his owner, and he lent it 

 to different people to see what they could make of 

 it. With one man he .lumped well, but pulled ter- 

 ribly hard - in fact, f airly took charge and ran 

 away. With a lady he did not pull an ounce, but 

 refused every fence she put him at; and with an- 

 other man he neither palled nor refused, but never 

 rose properly, got about half-way up a fence, and 

 proved a most dangerous ride. 



Now, the first man was a most consummate horse- 

 man, and had in perfection the art of giving them 

 rope. The lady was a very good rider, for whom 

 horses generally went well. The other man certainly 

 had the knack of making his horses jump. I don't 

 know what became of the horse, but it is quite pos- 

 sible if he found an owner to suit him, that he 

 v/ould again become a good hunter. 



