190 SPORTING STORIES 



such a trial, and the Captain alighted on the tan on his 

 head. 



" Now, take that fellow out," said Sefifart, and before 

 O'Flanagan knew where he was, two grooms caught him 

 up in their arms like a bundle of straw, and, carrying him 

 thus through the waiting ladies, dropped him into the road. 

 When he picked himself out of the mud, he had the 

 mortification of seeing Miss Soapboiler laughing heartily 

 at his discomfiture. 



But the king of horse-tamers was, without doubt, the 

 famous J. S. Rarey, who made his first appearance in 

 England in the year 1858. His story is a curious one. 



He was a farmer in Ohio, U.S.A., and from the time he 

 was a lad had devoted himself to breaking and taming 

 colts, and, after some years, was so successful in subjugating 

 even the most vicious horses that he published a book 

 describing in full his method of dealing with horses in a 

 humane and effective way. His work, however, in a part 

 of the world where everyone is, or was, supposed to know 

 how to manage the greatest " cuss " on four legs that ever 

 was foaled, did not pay for publishing; but, by a fortunate 

 accident for him, a copy of the book fell into the hands of 

 Mr Goodenough, a horse-dealer in Toronto, who, with the 

 cuteness of a New Englander, saw there was money in the 

 notion were it worked properly. 



Mr Goodenough therefore wrote to the Ohio farmer, 

 saying he would run the affair and give half profits, if 

 Mr Rarey would go to England and show his power of 

 horse-taming ; to which the latter, anxious to set his foot 

 upon English soil, agreed. 



Wisely concluding that a copy of a Far- West American 

 book could never have reached this part of the world, the 

 guide, philosopher, and friend of Mr Rarey obtained an 

 interview with General Eyre, then commanding in Canada ; 

 and, as the Toronto dealer was a man who could talk a 

 milestone into the belief that all he said was gospel, the 

 General, after witnessing one of Rarey's exhibitions, gave 

 him a letter of introduction to the highest personages here. 

 Some years afterwards Mr Goodenough said to a friend of 

 mine: "The reason I succeeded so well in my Rarey 



