North-country fairs--An untrained foxhunter--Tempted
again--Extraordinary memory of the horse--Satisfactory results from
a Latch-key.
In former chapters I have spoken of coachmen and guards, both in the
heyday and afternoon of their career--then, once qualified for this
line of life, seldom exhibiting an inclination to change. But let me
now descend to the coach _horse_. In the good old coaching days, so
great was the demand, that breeders were found who devoted themselves
to a class of animal calculated for coach work and little else. There
was an understood price, and buyers for the contractors attended the
North-country fairs and made their selection--twenty, fifty, or eighty
horses, as required--the individual price never being referred to
during the deal, so long as the average was not exceeded.
Seasoned horses were more valuable to proprietors than green uneducated
colts from the fair; consequently, many opportunities were afforded
for "chops" equally advantageous to both parties. An old hunter (old,
not so much with reference to his years, as because he had been thus
employed) made an admirable teamster. Horses with a blemish, or perhaps
from some caprice of their owners, were often drafted while in their
zenith, and those who were fortunate enough to pick them up, purchased
with them some months (if not years) of good keep and condition,
which could not be too highly appreciated. Condition means time; and
nothing but time can effectually produce it. The power of a horse may
be doubled by the condition of his frame, as it may be reduced by
mismanagement and low keep to half its natural strength.
A large breeder in the North of England, a fine specimen of the old
English yeoman, whom I visited some years ago, remarked to me:
"I send all my colts, at two years old, to plough. They may play with
it or they may work, just as they please. They are only out from eleven
to three. It makes them temperate, accustoms them to be handled, and
develops their muscles. I have bred some high-priced ones, and all have
been served the same.
"In fifty-five examples of this treatment I have never known a single
instance of harm arising from it. This horse which I am now riding"
(and he called my attention to a very clever-looking black-brown
gelding, about fifteen hands three inches) "has worked on-and-off on
this farm for twenty-three years. I have been tempted to sell him four
different times, but he has always come back to me. We nearly lost
each other the last time, but, by a strange accident, I recovered him.
"I was on the coach, going to Doncaster, and when we changed horses at
---- I noticed that one of them began pawing and neighing, appearing
much excited. The horsekeeper reproved him, and led him into his place
at the wheel. Having taken my seat on the box with the coachman,
I observed that the animal was troubled by the fretfulness of his
near-side wheeler. He jumped, backed, and shied to such a degree as to
induce me to remark to the coachman that he had a fresh one there.
"'No, not fresh,' was the reply. 'I've had him here these ten months,
and a better I never drove. He never played this game before.'
"'Where does he come from?' I asked.
"'I heard the governor say from Cornwall, but he bought him at
Bristol,' said the man.
"Up to this moment every action, every movement, had so entirely
reminded me of my friend Latch-key, that I could almost have sworn to
his identity. But how he could have come out of Cornwall to be sold at
Bristol puzzled me.
"On arriving at the end of the stage, however, my suspicions were
confirmed. This was my old friend and favourite, Latch-key, and
although we had been separated for more than two years, he remembered
me better than I did him, and seemed anxious to renew all the pettings
and caresses which used to pass between us."
Not to weary my reader with a history of the whole life of this horse,
there is still something so remarkable in the fact of a man having bred
a horse, and then purchased him four different times, that I may be
forgiven for giving a slight sketch of his antecedents--as far as they
could be traced by my host.
"Foaled in 1828. The dam, being blind, lost her way, fell into a
ditch, and was fatally injured. The foal was reared by hand, chiefly
upon ass's milk. Being a privileged member of the farmyard group, he
became the constant companion of his foster-brother, the foal of the
mare donkey which had supplied all his wants. These two grazed in the
orchard, frolicked in the park, and were always to be found near the
house together. The young ass was an adept at opening gates, and the
colt had acquired a knowledge of the art to such perfection that no
fastening short of a chain and padlock could keep him in. Thence he
acquired the sobriquet of Latch-key.
"At the age of two years he went to plough with other colts of his
own age. The monotony of this work did not suit him, and hearing the
hounds one day running at a short distance from his work, he was seized
with a sudden determination to follow them, and after a severe and
protracted kicking-match, having knocked two partners out of time, made
his escape. Away he went, with part of his chains and a spreading-bar
still hanging to him. These encumbrances caused him some awkward falls
to begin with, which only served to increase the amusement he afforded
to the field, as he quickly righted himself and resumed his place in
the front rank.
"The country was stiff and the field getting select when Latch-key
joined the cry. The hounds had got a good straight-necked fox before
them, and there was a rattling scent--one of those days when the only
way to live with them was by galloping from parish to parish, and then
only to find they were two fields before you. But I am digressing,
and it is quite necessary to go straight in such an affair as I am
describing. Taking every fence as it came, in company with the foremost
riders, Latch-key held his own, and it was not till, at the end of
forty-five minutes, the gallant fox saved his brush by getting into
a rabbit-hole, that, with heaving flanks, distended nostrils, and
dripping with perspiration, he received the commendations of the field
as they came up on the line.
"'Bravo, young 'un! I should like to have you at five years old.'
"'Where does he come from?' etc. etc.
"The fox had brought them over a distance of nine miles as the crow
flies, and few witnessed the finish.
"'Catch that cart-colt, and take him down to the farmhouse. They may
know him, my lad. And here is a pot of beer for you.'
"All good fox-hunters are Good Samaritans, and in this case the life of
what proved afterwards to be a most valuable animal was saved by the
charitable attention of the gentlemen in scarlet. It was found, when
the yokel went up to him to lead him away, that he was standing in
a pool of blood, having staked himself severely in the chest. If the
wound had not been plugged and promptly attended to, the colt's first
day's hunting would have been his last.
"Latch-key remained in the quarters he had accidentally dropped into
until he was well enough to travel, when he returned to his native
home. In addition to a very severe stake, he was otherwise much scarred
by the broken plough-harness, and consequently required careful nursing
to restore him to health and soundness.
"During the next two years he was kept apart from other young stock,
and was constantly fed and petted by the farmer and his family. At
the beginning of the fifth year, when he had been broken and was in
his best looks, a dealer from London came down and bought him for a
handsome sum.
"When he had been sufficiently prepared for a London show he was
sold to a gentleman in Berkshire, who hunted him four seasons, and
then, finding he did not like harness, sold him for a reduced price at
Tattersall's, and he fell into the hands of a coper, who, finding he
would not harness, chopped him away to a salesman. The latter sent him,
with several others, to Hull, to be shipped for St. Petersburg. He was
on the point of being embarked, when my son, who happened to be at Hull
at the time, recognised and, well knowing his intrinsic value, bought
him for double the contract price. This was in 1838. He had not been
at home a week when he was sold to a cavalry officer, who found him
a first-class hunter, and did not regret having given me two hundred
guineas for him.
"He changed hands several times in the regiment, at various prices, and
was finally sold to a young squire, whose effects came to the hammer
under the superintendence of the sheriff, at York. At this sale I
purchased Latch-key for thirty-seven guineas, and took him for my own
riding.
"Although much attached to the horse, a very good offer tempted me once
more to part with him, in order to effect the sale of several others
which had been selected, provided he were thrown in.
"This time he went to London again, and was broken to harness, and
sold to a noble lord, who took him to Edinburgh. Here he met with an
accident through collision with a tradesman's cart, which disfigured
and lamed him for a considerable time. Whilst under treatment of a
veterinary surgeon, an intimate friend of mine, and belonging to my
neighbourhood, finding the horse would be sold for 'a song,' purchased
him for me, and sent him home, where he soon recovered, and resumed his
place as my hack. This was in the year 1845.
"I continued to ride him for several years, until on one eventful day I
was induced once more to throw him in with a string I was selling to a
London dealer; and from that time we never set eyes on each other till
our mutual recognition in the coach at ----.
"This is another instance of the extraordinary memory possessed by
horses, and a convincing proof that they are as prone to remember
kindness and good treatment as they do punishment and discomfort.
"After this, I lost no time in purchasing my old friend from the
proprietors of the coach, which I did for the reasonable sum of
thirty-five guineas. When grazing in the meadows near the highroad, he
listens for the horn, and always trots cheerfully down to the gate to
see the coach pass.
* * * * *
"I subjoin a statistical account of the career of Latch-key, showing
the difference between buying and selling.
Foaled in 1828.
Sold in 1833 £120
Repurchased 1838 £80
Sold in 1838 200
Repurchased 1841 37
Sold in 1842 75
Repurchased 1845 25
Sold in 1846 75
Repurchased 1850 35
-------------
£470 £177
=============
"So that this horse returned to me, in his sales and purchases
in the course of twenty-two years, a net sum of two hundred and
ninety-three pounds! We make no mystery as to his age, since money
would no longer buy him; but during his career as a marketable animal,
Latch-key chanced to be never more than 'eight years old!' He is now
twenty-seven, and a cleverer animal could not be found."
As my host finished his account of the career of his now old favourite,
Latch-key confirmed it with a whinny, accompanied, however, by a
significant shake of his head, which might have implied: "I wouldn't
trust you, even _now_, if a good offer came in your way!"