JOHN WHIDBORNE 189 



a first-rate horse over banks and timber, and you 

 could not tire him out. I had him after he turned 

 roarer from a bad attack of influenza, but his owner 

 would not sell him. He appears on the left in the 

 photograph of Mr. Whidborne's hounds. Silvertail 

 was another of Miss Whidborne's good horses, and 

 the bay Talisman was one of the best she had. 

 Paddy was an extraordinarily hard little horse. He 

 suffered from corns and had a quick pottering action 

 on the road. Then there was Taffy, somewhat coarse, 

 but of the everlasting kind. I am treating only of the 

 hunters Miss Whidborne had at this time, but 

 cannot refrain from just mentioning a very cele- 

 brated grey mare she rode in earlier years called 

 Alice Grey. Some of the horses named were reserved 

 for Miss Whidborne's own riding, but others took 

 their turn in carrying the huntsman, who was always 

 well mounted. Among other horses he had were the 

 chestnuts Sunbeam and Ginger ; the greys Swallow, 

 Rattler and Zouave (the latter split his pastern 

 trotting down a lane) ; the brown mare Polly ; The 

 Knight, a bay ; the rat-tailed Baron, a good hunter 

 of uncertain temper ; and a horse whose proper 

 name I forget, but which the stablemen always 

 called Chany-eye from his having a so-called " china " 

 or " wall eye." There were also others that I forget. 

 The whip first appointed to the pack was one Doyle, 

 grandson to the master's old coachman and stud- 

 groom, William Paul. His heart, however, was not 

 in the work and he was relegated to the position of 

 second horseman to the huntsman. This he filled 

 admirably, having a good eye for a country. Doyle 

 was succeeded by a whip who, if I remember rightly, 

 was called Edwards and came from the Llangibby 

 and Chepstow, but his health was not good and he 



