1 14 Among Men and Horses. 



her owner, saying that she had continued to remain perfectly 

 quiet to ride, even after she had been kept in the stable for 

 several days. I know nothing about the subsequent history 

 of the kicker. I may add that the work I had mapped out 

 for myself consisted in showing the members of my class how 

 to make a horse obey in the first instance, so that they could 

 do likewise, and could repeat the lesson as might be required. 

 I must have made a good impression at this free show ; for 

 next morning the papers were full of my praises, and I got up 

 a large paying class. 



From Bombay I went on to Poona, where I arrived just 

 in time for a ball given by the Western Indian Club, for 

 which I had received an invitation. That incomparable 

 gentleman rider, Captain (now Colonel) Locke Elliott being 

 always on the look out to learn something new about horses, 

 would brook no delay, so he went round (after supper of 

 course) with paper and pencil in hand, and got me up a 

 class of almost all the gentlemen present — the ladies being 

 placed on the free list — and when the ball was over we 

 all drove or rode over to the Horse Artillery riding-school 

 at Kirkee, which is about three miles distant. The Gunners 

 kindly lent a few supposed incorrigibles, who would go only 

 in the ' off centre ' or ' off lead.' The greatest interest was 

 taken in their subjugation, and neither man nor woman 

 would go to breakfast and then to bed until they had seen 

 the buck-jumpers quietly ridden. I mention this incident 

 to show what a keen interest people in India take in horses. 

 Practically, everyone there owns horses and uses them as 

 one's greatest pleasure in life. In England everyone theo- 

 retically loves horses ; but not one in say, 500, either rides 

 or drives. Even those who possess one or more horses, are 

 not, owing to the masterful ways of English grooms and 

 coachmen, brought into the same intimate relations with their 

 horses, as are their brethren in the East. Men in India often 

 have to teach their native grooms how to dress and feed their 

 horses ; their smiths how to shoe them ; and their stable- 



