HUNTERS • 67 



71071 for any one going out with the hounds that they must 

 jump what comes in their way. The well-to-do, portly 

 equestrian, with a good balance at his bank, a good cook, 

 and a well-stocked cellar, is not so familiar a figure in an 

 Irish hunting-field as in an English one. Such a rider 

 usually comes out for the sake of his digestion, and to 

 hear the last gossip or amusing tale, and has no intention 

 whatever of taking unnecessary risks ; but he likes his 

 steed to be of good appearance and of as stout proportions 

 as himself, with perfect manners, and he is willing to pay 

 a really high price for one on which he will look noble at 

 the Meet. Nor is he unwilling that the price he has paid 

 for his steed should be on the tip of every one's tongue. 

 Still, whatever the notions of the rider may be and whatever 

 the character of the country he hunts in, there are some 

 points his steed must possess or he cannot act his due 

 part in the play. Good sound wearing legs and feet are 

 among the first essentials, and cannot be overlooked ; well- 

 sloping shoulders he must possess, or he will be unable to 

 extend himself, and be liable to fall. There must be 

 strength, too, in the muscles of the shoulders, for a horse 

 which is thin in this region and weak in that important 

 point, cannot carry weight, and will soon tire in deep 

 ground. Very essential are the muscles of the neck, for 

 they have to sustain the whole weight of the head, situated 

 as it is at the end of a long lever. Badly put on it may be, 

 and without beauty, but if the muscles are strong the horse 

 may yet be able to perform its task, which with a weak neck 

 it is incapable of doing. The back must be powerful, and 

 if so a little extra length, though far from being desirable, 

 does not at once put the animal out of court. He may 

 still be able to gallop and jump, though not equal to carry- 

 ing as much weight as he otherwise would. And now we 

 come to one of the chief essentials, the development of the 

 thighs, and those great glutei muscles, which are, together 

 with the triceps and biceps, known under the generic term 

 of quarters. A hunter cannot have too great development 

 in this region. When viewed from behind a horse must 

 show "a good pair of breeches," the thighs meeting each 



