SHAMMING LAMENESS. [To TH E EDITOR 07 THE " SPECTA
TOR."] SIR,—A horse I rode in Australia, 'Sportsman,' was very fond of shamming lameness when he was sulky. I have sometimes
in the course of a ride got down two or three times to see if he really had a stone in his hoof, as from his gait he seemed to have. But it was just pretence. I remember particularly • taking Sportsman' on a riding tour which had for one of its objects a slight reconnaissance of the country from a military point of view. After four days' steady riding I gave him Sunday off in a paddock to prepare him for Monday's task of forty-five miles. He rewarded this thought for his welfare by jumping a couple of fences and clearing out. I caught him after a very long chase and saddled up. He was thoroughly sulky, however, and shammed stiffness in the off bind-leg. After five miles I was almost prepared to put him in dock as genuinely lame, when a mounted policeman on a fine nag overtook us. 'Sportsman' at once became anxious to show off his paces, went along splendidly, trotting, cantering, galloping, and ended the forty-five-miles day in good fettle.
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