Anecdotes of Racehorses 87 



steadied I jumped off, handed him over to the lad, and 

 walked down to the starting post, to which he was led. 

 When all were assembled I remounted, and the moment 

 I joined the others the flag fell, and we were off. 

 " Fortal " was many lengths ahead at the first hurdle, 

 and was fairly running away, but the moment we were 

 over and had gained a lead of some thirty yards, I 

 pursued a method I had used with him before, and which 

 was again successful. This was to sit down in my saddle 

 and speak to him as if going to pull up, at the 

 same time completely loosening the reins. As soon as 

 ever he found nothing to pull at he would slacken his 

 speed of his own accord, unless another horse got too 

 near him, when he would at once start off again as wild 

 as ever. On approaching a hurdle, it was necessary to 

 take tighter hold of the reins, or he would gallop into 

 them, and he was not a very comfortable mount, for he 

 judged his distance badly, trusting to his immense leaping 

 powers to get over safely. One time he would take off 

 far too soon, and almost laud on the top of the fence ; 

 while perhaps at the next one he would get too close, 

 and then go flying into space. It seemed, sometimes, 

 as if he must catch his knees as he rose to the jump 

 from being so near to it before he made his spring. I 

 several times measured the distance that he covered 

 when practising, and found that he usually cleared from 

 27 ft. to 30 ft. over the first few hurdles. By loosen- 

 ing the reins again after landing, he was coaxed into 

 galloping at a steadier pace, and we won both of the 

 two hurdle races in which I rode him. Nothing ever 

 got near me in this Aldershot race until rising the 

 hill on the Queen's Parade, about a quarter of a mile 



