OVER BANK AND TIMBER. 121 



which took a first prize at the Compton Stud Show 

 at Horsington. The brown mare, Comedy, that I 

 had from Mr Clayton, had a nice little filly by 

 Huguenot, which also took a first prize in the class 

 for liofht-welirht hunters at Sherborne. 



My farming, and for a time my riding, were put 

 a stop to by a severe attack of neuralgia in the 

 spine, which for nearly a whole winter kept me a 

 prisoner to my room. For some years afterwards 

 I was forbidden to jump, and although I could not 

 always resist doing so in the excitement of a run, 

 I paid dearly for it, especially after a drop leap. 



As most of my old favourites, large and small, 

 have been mentioned in these pages, I cannot resist 

 giving a place to a strange pet that came to me, 

 though he certainly has no connection with hunting. 

 At a time when some very severe gales were blow- 

 ing, our churchwarden, Mr Rice, one day brought 

 me a largfe bird which he had found in a field near 

 Haddon. The bird was unable to fly, and it had 

 struggled desperately before he and his shepherd 

 had been able to secure it. It turned out to be a 

 gannet or solan goose, and it must have been 

 driven so far inland by the unusually boisterous 

 w^eather. It proved to be a most amusing pet, 

 though it was very wild at first, and would attack 

 me with its great beak wide open, and fasten in 

 the most tenacious way upon my dress or anything 

 that came first, while it flopped me with its wings. 

 I soon discovered an easy method of managing 

 Master Ganny, as he was called, for by catching 



