Frederick citizen., 1895-02-15
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iA0OIU
aay morning came, I ordered her out
OF the stable, and got on to Virago-
for by this name I had christened her
! for the first time.
The meet was at Stonton Wyville
village, about five miles from the town.
No sooner than I had seated myself In
the saddle, than my lady proceeded to
treat me to a series of the most ter
rifle kicks, diversified every now and
| then by regular Australian buck
jump, which would have gained her
celebrity at Buffalo Bills show. We
went up the High-street in this spirit
ed, If scarcely agreeable fashion, much
to the amusement of the people on foot.
who appeared thoroughly to enjoy the
unusual spectacle of a red-coat In
| difficulties at the start. How I man.
aged to retain my seat was a marvel.
| Every moment I thought should be
| thrown over the brute's head to the
| pavement. AS It was, lost both
stirrups and narrowly escaped an ig-
nominious fall, thanks to catching hold
Of her name in the nick of time.
now began to see that patience was
quite thrown away upon my charming
ViraSo and that If I would arrive al
the meet at all. 1 must have recourse
to more energetic measures than those
! hitherto employed. So when she
favored me to another vicious bout OF
kicking, instead of patting her neck,
sought to allay her irritability by
the soothing sound Of the human voice.
and applied my spurs to some tune.
She reared up wildly. fighting the
air with her fore legs. and for a mo-
nent thought she must certainly over
balance herself. Then with a furious
snort of pure temper. she lunged her
| head forward, and taking the bit be-
tween her teeth. tore down the road
like mad thing.
I am fairly strong in the arms, but
for over mile and half made no
more impression on her than II I were
hauling at an elephant. UP hill and
down she went at full speed, clatter-
ing over the stones and sending them
| flying in every direction. In an extra
ordinarily short space of time we reach
ed the old coaching inn, where the high
way branches off to the right for
Church Langton. By superhuman ef-
fort 1 managed to pull her up into
canter. and set her head in the
right direction. doubt il I should
| have achieved the feat, had she
not spied couple of horsemen ahead,
which fortunately caused her mood to
agree with mine. My arms We're sore,
every nerve in my body quivering.
felt as if had been sitting for hours
IN the hot room of a Turkish bath,
and yet strange as it may appear. my
estimation of Virago had gone up.
| For the brute could gallop. There
was no mistake about that, and /
thought If she would only settle down.
| and behave like a reasonable creature,
| instead of an equine fiend, that she
might turn out valuable acquisition
after all. But at present she showed
no signs of placdity. She galloped
| resolutely up the stiff hill which leads
to Langton, being upset by a railroad
train just as 1 had coaxed her into
trot She pulled hard right to the top
of the ascent, and I found out by this
time that her pipes were sound at any
rate. l had made three discoveries al
ready. namely, that she was fast, was
a good-winded mare and knew how to
kick. The last discovery was not quite
as pleasant as the two former, still one
had to take the bad and the good to-
gether I am bound to admit there was
! a great deal of the bad. Every time
we passed anything on the road. she
commemorated the event by a few
lively flourishes of her heels, which
as she had particularly strong hind
quarters, as | have mentioned before.
produced rather a disturbing effect
upon her riders centre of gravity. Once
or twice the thought flashed across my
mind, that in the event of an ugly spill
she would treat one none too well. 1t
was not exactly reassuring.
Luckily we got to the meet without
a catastrophe for which stroke of good
fortune offered UP an inward thanks
giving Arrived at the fixture I hoped
things would improve. but l dared not
take her into the small inclosure where
the pack and most of my friends were
assembled, for quickly ascertained
that she kicked with amiable impart-
iality, not only at horses and hounds,
but also at everything which came
within reach of her heels. She soon
cleared a circle, and the only plan was
to keep her well outside the crowd,
else I should have been voted con-
founded nuisance. / know l felt like
one, for not syllable could exchange
with my pals" who laughingly shout
ed out, "Hu!loa, old man. you seem to
have got hold OF real brute this time.
Quite after your own heart, no doubt
but please be careful at the gateways."
Stonton Wyvillc is favorite fixture
of the Harboro people. and there was
a large field out. including stronG
contingent from Melton and Oakham
The popular master. who during his
tenure of Office has gained so man.
golden opinions, new gave the sigma
for move, and the mighty cavalcaae
moved off at jog trot towards the
woods. which stands on gentle emin-
ence about a quarter of mile away
from the village, which 1t overlooks
The "varmint" happened to be ut
home, and apparently there was .
screaming scent. for no sooner were