THE COVERT-HACK 131 
charger is usually sixteen hands high, and of power proportioned to the 
weight he has to carry. His hind legs ought to be well under him, and 
his shoulders must be sloping and powerful, with a head and neck well 
put together, and rising out of the chest so as to give effect to the bridle. 
Such a horse is well displayed in the engraving, which is from a painting 
of a well-known charger belonging to an officer in the Ist Life Guards, by 
Mr. Barraud, who has kindly placed it at my service. Unless the hocks 
are well bent and the stifles forward it is almost impossible to teach a 
horse the military manége to its full extent, and hence this point is care- 
fully insisted on by cavalry officers. Occasionally, a thoroughbred horse 
is met with possessing this formation, but generally that breed is deficient 
in it, in consequence of the different style of going which is adapted for 
racing. Nearly all the chargers used in the cavalry are therefore half- 
bred, and a large proportion of them come from Lincolnshire, where, 
indeed, almost all of the Life Guards’ troop-horses are bred specially 
for that purpose, being the produce of the black Lincolnshire cart mare 
crossed with the thoroughbred. These are sent up as three-year-olds to 
the three regiments, at 35/. apiece, but of late years there has been a diffi- 
culty in procuring sufficient numbers to fill up the gaps made by disease 
and death. ‘The troop-horses of the dragoons and lancers are bought as 
four-year-olds, and are obtained from various sources throughout England, 
Ireland, and Scotland, Messrs. Phillips and East, of London, having the 
command of the market. 
THE COVERT, ROAD, AND PARK-HACK. 
By THE WORD HACK is understood a horse specially intended for the 
saddle, and to be used on some kind of road, which may be the cross roads 
in the way to covert, or the ordinary turnpike, or, lastly, the loose 
gravelly roads of our parks. The same class of animal is used in all, but 
there are some slight differences between the three kinds, as we shall 
presently see, corresponding with the purposes for which they are seve- 
rally used. 
THE COVERT-HAOCK is required to carry Lis master to the meet of the 
pack of foxhounds to which the hunter or hunters have been sent on. 
The object of this arrangement is to save time to the rider, and also to 
allow the hunter to be taken quietly to the fixture by the groom, who 
exchanges the one for the other just before the hounds are thrown into 
covert. Hence this kind of hack must be fast as well as stout, and it is 
expected that he shall be able to carry any ordinary weight from twelve 
to sixteen miles within the hour, to do which he must maintain a fast 
hand-gallop over all sorts of ground, and occasionally “do” a little fence 
or two to cut off a corner. In days of yore, our grandfathers breakfasted 
at daybreak, or sometimes rode ten miles on an empty stomach to the 
house of a friend near the appointed meet; and they were contented to do 
this at a pace which would not turn a hair of their hunter’s coat, even 
though that was perhaps not quite so silky and short as it is expected 
now to be. Such a practice would now be voted slow, even though the 
breakfast-hour might easily be appointed for eight a.m., leaving an hour 
and a half or two hours to ride quietly to covert. But, no, the fast man 
must ride fast, and make his appearance on his blood-hack, galloping 
sixteen miles an hour, and with his overalls bespattered with mud. He 
leaves Lis house at half-past nine or ten a.M., and reaches the meet just in 
time to put off his outside skin of dirt, and appear without a blemish on 
