8 LETTERS TO YOUNG SPORTSMEN. 



but the agony, cumulative and persistent, will get him down 

 before the day is out. Let the boot be big in the foot, big 

 enough to take a thick sock. If your feet are ever cold, they 

 will be cold on horseback. The contact with the stirrup iron 

 accounts for this, I think. One hears it said, " Don't 

 hunt in spurs at first." Well, don't if you have no 

 pride, but a spur sets off a well cut boot, and without 

 them no man looks properly turned out. But have 

 them without rowels, cut them off flush. It is rather 

 an Irish remark, but only a fine horseman should wear sharp 

 spurs, because he is certain not to touch the horse with them. 

 There is a good deal to be said about spurs and other means 

 of coercion and what horsemen call the " aids," but these 

 we hope to touch on later, when we reach riding to hounds 

 and horsemanship, not the advanced haute ecole, but practical 

 everyday hunting horsemanship. Those of you who have 

 struggled thus far with me will surely complain that this is 

 a woeful chapter of " don'ts," but if you commit no offence 

 against the tacit understandings and general etiquette of 

 the hunting field, no one will guess you are new to the game. 

 We will leave more advanced mysteries till another day. 



