Miss Nellie Reid. 129 



The obstacle, which was a boarded structure made to re- 

 semble a wall, was held in a sloped position by a man at 

 each end, ready to be let down in case the animal struck it. 

 Despite this circus-like method, which detracted from the 

 workman-like appearance of the affair, Miss Reid's per- 

 formance was of great merit ; for Union, night after night, 

 jumped fully 5 feet 3 inches. After the show was over, I 

 had supper with Sample and Miss Reid, and, of course, we 

 had a great talk about horses and business at home and 

 in foreign parts. I was sorry to hear that my old friend 

 had done no ' good ' since I last saw him ; but he was buoyed 

 up with hope, for he had seething in his active brain a 

 new invention for the training of horses, which, as he ex- 

 pressed it, would lick creation. It consisted, so he informed 

 me, of a machine into which he could put a wild horse, and 

 in a couple of minutes bring him out of it as tame as a 

 mouse ! It had lost him in making experiments with it, a 

 lot of money, which he regarded as lent at usurious interest 

 on the safest possible security. He was also going to patent 

 it in all the principal countries in the world. As I admired 

 his pluck, enthusiasm and originality, I was careful to say 

 nothing that was not encouraging to him. Knowing what 

 great experience he had had in horse taming, I felt certain 

 that he would work out his ideas all right in practice ; but 

 I could not help thinking that any method of horse taming, 

 however perfect it may be, forms at best only a small portion 

 of the preliminary education of a horse, and that it is not 

 required with one out of fifty horses which are brought up 

 under civilised conditions like those in the United Kingdom. 

 Had he been in the possession of an invention which could 

 with mechanical precision give a horse a good mouth, form 

 his paces, and teach him to jump cleverly, I would have 

 offered him everything I had in the world, and would have 

 begged him to take me into partnership. As it was, I com- 

 mended his scheme warmly, praised his ingenuity, and parted 

 from him with the best of good wishes on both sides. 



