REMINISCENCES OF BERT DRAGE 



let him refuse. Anyhow, he kept him and Hked 

 him very much afterwards. 



I had a rather interesting episode with the late 

 Lord Lonsdale. There was only one way to do 

 business with him, and that was to let him do just 

 what he liked ! It was all a bit difficult, but 

 worth doing. I remember once the fox went to 

 ground at Exton. I was riding a good grey horse, 

 and I felt I should like to try to sell him to Lord 

 Lonsdale. He was watching them dig the fox 

 out, and I rode up to him and said how very much 

 obliged I would be if he would just sit on my 

 horse and tell me what weight he was up to, as, 

 being a very light-weight, I did not feel quite 

 competent to say. He said : " Very well," and got 

 on him and rode him for a short time, then said 

 he was not up to his weight. I thanked him 

 very much, and said all I wanted to know was what 

 weight he was up to, so that I should know who to 

 recommend him to. Anyhow, that evening I had 

 a message from Barley Thorpe telling me to send 

 the horse to his stables. He was a great success. 



I also remember having a wonderful hunt with 

 the Cottesmore. I was riding a thoroughbred 

 horse that we bred. He had not done much 

 hunting, so I went very cautiously with him until 

 he got confidence. We killed the fox near to 

 Burrough, and that night I had a message from 

 Barley Thorpe to send the horse to Lord Lonsdale's 

 stables there. I told the man to tell Lord Lonsdale 



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