All the horses meanwhile had run away and the party started to walk four miles home, but luckily some negroes along the road caught the fugitives and brought them back.

Washington insisted upon mounting his animal again and rode home without further incident.

This episode happened only a few weeks before his death.
Like every farmer he found that his horses had a way of growing old.
Those with which he had personal associations, like "Blueskin" and "Nelson," he kept until they died of old age.

With others he sometimes followed a different course.

In 1792 we find his manager, Whiting, writing: "We have several Old Horses that are not worth keeping thro winter.