EDITORIAL OBSERVATIONS. 
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girth of the saddle ; a contrivance to prevent a horse of this kind from 
getting at his rider. King Pippin had long been difficult to manage and 
dangerous to go near ; but on the occasion in question he could not be got 
out to run at all — nobody could put the bridle upon his head. It being 
Easter Monday, and consequently a great holiday , there was a large con- 
course of people assembled at the Curragh, consisting principally of the neigh- 
bouring peasantry ; and one countryman, more fearless than the rest of the 
lookers-on, forgetting, or rather perhaps never dreaming, that the better 
part of courage is prudence, volunteered his services to bridle the horse ; 
but no sooner had he committed himself in this operation, than King 
Pippin seized him somewhere about the shoulders or chest, and, says Mr. 
Watts, ‘ I know of nothing I can compare it to, so much as to a dog shaking 
a rat . 5 Fortunately for this poor fellow, his body was very thickly covered 
with clothes; for, on such occasions, observes my friend, an Irishman of 
this class is fond of displaying his wardrobe, and, ‘ if he has three coats at all 
in the world? lie is sure to put them all on. This circumstance, in all pro- 
bability, saved the individual who had so gallantly volunteered the forlorn 
hope. His person was so deeply enveloped in extra tegument , that the horse 
never got fairly hold of his skin ; and I understand he escaped with but 
little injury beyond a sadly rent and totally ruined state of all his holiday 
toggery. The whisperer was then sent for, who having arrived, was shut up 
with the horse all night, and in the morning he exhibited this hitherto fero- 
cious animal, following him about the course like a dog; lying down at his 
command ; suffering his mouth to be opened, and any person’s hand to be 
introduced into it ; in short, as quiet almost as a sheep. He came out the 
same meeting , and won a race , and his docility continued satisfactory for a 
long time ; but at the end of about three years his vice returned , and then he 
is said to have killed a man 3 for which he was destroyed.” 
Sullivan is said to have obtained his secret from a soldier, 
and to have died without divulging it. 
Contemporary with the “ Whisperer ” was the cc Yorkshire 
Jumper.” Of him Mr. Castley says that — 
“ When a very young man, I remember purchasing a horse at a fair in 
the north of England, that was offered very cheap, on account of his being 
unmanageable. It was said nobody could ride him. We found that the 
animal objected to have anything placed upon his back, and that, when 
made to move forward with even nothing more than a saddle on, he in- 
stantly threw himself down upon his side with great violence, and would 
then endeavour to roll upon his back. There was at that time in Yorkshire 
a famous colt-breaker, known by the name of Jumper , who was almost as 
celebrated in that country for taming vicious horses into submission as the 
famed whisperer in Ireland. We put this animal into Jumper’s hands, who 
took him away, and in about ten days, brought him home again, certainly 
not looking worse in condition, but perfectly subdued, and almost as obedi- 
ent as a dog ; for he would lie down at this man’s bidding, and only rise 
again at his command — carry double, or anything. I took to riding him 
myself, and may say I never was better carried for six or eight months, 
during which time he never showed the least vice whatever. I then sold 
him to a Lincolnshire farmer, who said he would give him a summer’s run 
at grass, and show him, a very fine horse, at the great Horncastle fair. 
Happening to meet this gentleman the following year, I naturally enough 
enquired after my old friend. * Oh,’ said he, ‘ that was a bad business ; the 
horse turned out a sad rebel. The first time we attempted to mount him 
