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but she never "threw a lep" when in it but once, and 

 then I was luckily alone, just coming out of the 

 stable-yard. She knocked a bird-cage off the wall 

 at such a height that I resolved there and then that 

 so much talent for jumping must be turned to some ac- 

 count. I gave her a little training and took her to 

 Hurlingham, where she won the jumping prize, and at 

 Ranelagh, too, she jumped perfectly, only just touch- 

 ing the water with a hind foot, and being a very good 

 second. I never tried her again in the show ring, 

 but I have no doubt that with careful training she 

 might have won many prizes. 



When the winter came, I felt I must try my trap- 

 per as a hunter, but I hardly knew what the result 

 would be. However, in two or three days she came 

 perfectly to hand, and a more brilliant little hunter 

 I never owned. I saw many a good hunt on her with 

 the Pytchley, Grafton, and Meynell. She was what 

 they call in Ireland a "polo," but whether she could 

 ever have been measured I know not. But many a 

 good, cheap little hunter could be picked up under 

 that heading in the Emerald Isle. It was especially 

 easy to buy them if the sellers thought in their 

 hearts that they would never really measure for the 

 game. Nearly all Irish ponies and cobs seem to be 

 born jumpers and to need very little schooling. I 

 remember a young Irish friend of mine coming out 

 hunting a few years ago on an Irish polo pony. He 

 assured me it had never in its life been schooled 

 or jumped over a fence. I have been in Ireland 

 several times, and do not accept without hesitation 

 all that an Irishman tells me about a horse or pony, 

 but certainly in the morning that particular pony 

 did not appear to know anything, yet he improved at 

 every fence. We had a sharp little gallop late, 

 when it fenced very well indeed. I need hardly add 

 that my young friend was a consummate horseman, as 

 so many of his countrymen are. 



In the next chapter I will tell, for the encour- 

 agement of hard-up youth, of two cheap hunters I 

 owned in years gone by. That they were cheap can- 

 not be denied, as their total cost was ten pounds, 

 and in telling of them I honestly think, with the 

 help of my diary, I have kept strictly to facts, and 

 have not allowed memory to exaggerate their merits 

 or failings. 



