Another favourite fairy-prank, which is known all over  the country, is riding horses at night, and leaving them back in the stables exhausted and lathered with foam. The ‘fairies’ in some of these stories were in actual fact smugglers who ‘borrowed’ horses from local farms. A Derry version of the story tells of a man whose horses were being used by the fairies and who, one night, decided to lock the stable door and put the dogs on guard. During the night he was awakened by a noise under his window. He looked out and was seized by the fairies who declared that, as they had been deprived of four-legged mounts, they would have to see how a two-legged one would do. They threw a saddle on the unfortunate man’s back, put reins around his neck, and one of them leaped up and rode roun the entire county of Derry. The moral of this tale would appear to be, if the fairies want to use your horses, you had better let them, lest worse befall.  (Foster, Ulster, 73-74)