HORSE-DEALING 



business was finished and it was impossible to say 

 if it w^ould ever revive. One was Lord Castlereagh, 

 and the horse he wanted to send back was a horse 

 he had bought for Lady Castlereagh. He said it 

 was a very poor performer and no use to Lady 

 Castlereagh. He had mounted two or three of 

 his friends on the horse, and that was their opinion. 

 I did not w^ant to have a row, and suggested that, 

 in fairness to me, I should go down and have a day 

 with the Cottesmore on him. I went to stay the 

 night with Mr. Strawbridge, who was then Master 

 of the Cottesmore, so that I should be on the spot 

 for the next day. We had a very good hunt. I was 

 careful not to take on anything too big at first, 

 but when I got him going he carried me brilliantly, 

 and I remember Lady Castlereagh coming up to 

 me and saying : "I shall never send that horse 

 back." So that ended well. 



Then I sold a horse to an American hunting 

 in the Duke of Beaufort's country. He wrote to 

 me that the horse was no good to him and that 

 he wanted to return him. I said before you do this 

 I will come dow^n and have a hunt on him. I 

 remember I went to stay with the Rev. Jack Gibbs, 

 a well-known sporting parson. Again I went very 

 carefully to w^ork, and only took on small places. 

 But the horse soon regained confidence and 

 carried me the best. You see he had not hunted 

 in a stone wall country before, and my client had 



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