Chapter II. 

 HORSE-DEALING. 



As a young man, I was very keen on hunting and 

 was very upset when my father told us that we 

 could not hunt on the opening day. I had so 

 looked forward to it. As a result of this I decided 

 to leave farming with my father. I agreed with 

 my brother to try to work up a business in selling 

 hunters and thereby get into the hunting field. 



I had somehow saved about £100 and I said if 

 we went broke I should try to get a whipper-in job. 

 I was determined to hunt. Anyhow, we were 

 very lucky. We bought two horses with the ;£100 

 and sold them pretty quickly for £300. We went 

 to work very carefully and made about £1,000 

 the first year. 



My father would not give us any capital, but he 

 gave the Bank a guarantee for £1,000. He also 

 gave up some of the farm premises which we 

 converted into stabling. I worked very hard 

 in those days, travelled about to buy horses. I 

 would go to Yorkshire on the 6 p.m. train every 

 other week. I bought some very good horses 

 out of the Sinnington country. I got to know 

 Bob Colling, who was a jockey in the North and 

 who was very good in going round with me and 

 introducing me to a lot of hunting farmers. Then 



22 



