8 THE CREAM OF LEICESTERSHIRE. [Seasox 



folks are ready to believe at ouce that the whole body of our guar- 

 dian bluebottles are scoundrels of the deepest dye. Moreover, we 

 contend that most if not all of the instances he quotes scarcel}' 

 come under the denomination of little horses at all, thovtgh the}' 

 only measured up to a low standard. Certainly, Mr. Darby's 

 two were, as he says, very thick ones, besides being nearl}' 

 thoroughbred ; in fact, they Avere enormous, and had weight 

 and size enough for anything. At the present time Capt. 

 Boyce is hunting (or rather would be if he could) a horse of not 

 more than 15'2, Smoke by name, seventeen years of age, which 

 is quite a standing dish in Melton, and is lilcely to carry him 

 for many seasons yet to come. But then these are essentially 

 what we call little big ones in Leicestershire ; they have all the 

 weight and strength of a taller horse, with the rare addition of 

 speed and activity. We can tell him of j^et a better example, 

 which we wonder he did not bring forward — viz., Osbaldeston's 

 ftimous Piplin mare, which many of the elder generation of 

 sportsmen must still remember — in fact, it was one of these 

 who described the prodigy to us : "A great castle of a mare — 

 a thoroughbred carthorse if 3'ou can uijagine such a thing. 

 Osbaldeston challenged the n-orld with her to run for a thousand 

 pounds over four miles of country. He gave £200 for her 

 (which was a long price in those days, about 1811), with the 

 stipulation that she was to be returned when he gave over 

 hunting her ; and she carried him nine seasons without ever 

 l)eing off her work, after which she bred three foals. He 

 bought her after seeing Tom Sebright (who had been given a 

 mount on her) jumji a six-foot wall of Sir M. Cholmeley's in 

 the Burton country." "What height was she?" we asked. 

 " Well, a little over 14*3," was the answer ! 



