HUNTERS 77 



One of the not-always-acknowledged reasons for removing 

 the mane is to give a fictitious appearance of breeding, and 

 so help the sale of an under-bred animal, really incapable of 

 carrying itself to hounds, let alone the rider as well. 

 Therein lies the crux, perhaps, of the whole matter, the 

 vendor hoping to persuade the purchaser that the animal is 

 better bred than is the case, by the help of a fictitious air of 

 " quahty " through the medium of a hogged mane, for, as is 

 frequently remarked by dealers, " hogging a horse gives it 

 another cross of blood." This does not avail it, however, 

 when the " Kun of many Seasons " is taking place, and the 

 rider finds his steed dropping away hopelessly into the rear. 

 Of air soul- vexing trials there is perhaps nothing more 

 heart-breaking than to get a good start in a rideable 

 country, with the hounds racing on a breast-high scent, and 

 yet to find your steed getting further and further behind; 

 you are overtaken and passed by one horse after another, 

 till you are reduced to following some red coat in front, who 

 is perhaps only following some one else who is as far before 

 him again, and yet is not really with the hounds. As 

 Whyte-Melville so truly sings in "Drink, Puppy, Drink," 

 it is the "Pace that puts life into the Chase"; but what 

 is the good of pace to you, when you are mounted on 

 an animal that cannot gallop " as fast as you can kick 

 your hat" ! When a would-be authority on hunter-breeding 

 advocates as a quite sufficient cross for a hunter to be 

 by a thoroughbred horse out of a cart-mare — or even 

 with two or three such crosses — it is conclusive evidence 

 that either he was never a first-flight man to hounds ; or else 

 that he has hunted all his days in a very slow-going 

 country. Certainly a really fast hunter may have but one 

 known cross of thoroughbred blood, and his dam may have 

 worked in a cart, but there must have been several good 

 crosses of blood amongst her maternal dams, although 

 unknown to the owner of the steed. Many a well-bred 

 animal finds its way occasionally into a cart. Unless the 

 animal has proved itself capable of going to the front in a 

 good thing, it is not wise to purchase a horse about whose 

 ancestry there is any doubt. Although pure-bred horses, 



