134 RECORDS OF OLD TIMES 



holding her. Mr. Lepper was on ahead, and I 

 managed to let him know ; so, with the help of two 

 farm labourers, who were working in the field, 

 succeeded in getting her led home, nearly four 

 miles. She was at once slung upon a beam in the 

 stable, and, after a careful examination, it was 

 discovered that she had split the os calcis — the 

 bone forming the cap of the hock, which keeps the 

 large muscles and sinews coming down the thigh to 

 the fetlock in their place. The splintered bone 

 scraping against the tendons and sinews every time 

 she stepped caused such pain, that she kicked out 

 violently to get rid of it, which made it worse. 

 After being slung, her hind feet just touching the 

 ground, the poor sufferer became quiet, and in some 

 weeks' time we managed carefully to let down the 

 slings, and she could then stand ; she very soon 

 began to walk, but it was manifest that she would 

 never jump again. She became useful as a delight- 

 ful hack about the farm, and to take journeys of 

 three or four miles at a steady pace. The accident 

 happened at the beginning of the year, when in the 

 month of April I sent her to Mentmore for service 

 to ' Hungerford,' a rather small, very stout horse, and 

 one of the soundest on the turf in England. The 

 following year she produced a lovely filly foal, a rich 

 dark-brown chestnut. When about three weeks after 

 the birth of the foal, which was trotting round its 

 dam in the rickyard, the mare became somewhat 

 excited, suddenly was seen to stagger, fell down. 



