258 SOME CURIOUS HORSES 



and felt his mouth and pressed my legs to his side, 

 and thus have drawn his attention to the fact that 

 something was going to take place. As I did not, 

 he took the noise as a matter of course, and did not 

 notice it ; and so, through mutual ignorance, we had 

 perfect confidence in one another. But there is a 

 sequel to this. Some months later I had a letter 

 from my friend, telling me that if I wished to buy 

 the horse I might get him for almost nothing, as 

 the man he sold him to gave an awful character of 

 him as a charger. As the horse was in the same 

 district I happened to be in, I went to see him, and 

 certainly the groom gave him a bad character. I 

 got leave to try him, and very soon found that his 

 present owner must be a very irritable, nervous 

 man. The horse had had his mouth so jagged 

 about with the bit that he never kept his head still 

 for a minute, and, if you told him to mark a flank, 

 directly it approached began to switch his tail and 

 tried to kick, having evidently had frequent digs 

 with the spur to make him steady. Altogether the 

 horse was quite spoiled for a charger through his 

 rider's fidgets ; and, as I did not care to take the 

 trouble to try and break him again, I did not have 

 anything more to do with him. But I think this 

 was a striking proof of how a horse can be made 

 and unmade. 



