RIDING TO HOUNDS 23 



round ? &c. &c. You would suppose he was going to buy at a 

 fancy price, instead of contemplating a gratuitous ride of a few 

 hours : and when all is said and done he probably joins the 

 road-riders as soon as hounds find, on the plea that he has not 

 the nerve to risk hurting another man's horse-flesh. 



Not so one of our real all-round men, for they reap the 

 reward of their bravery in being often mounted by their richer 

 friends not perhaps quite on the pick of the stable, but on a 

 horse maybe that is just a trifle rash at the first three fences, 

 or on one that wants a little more squeezing at water than his 

 lawful owner feels quite competent to give ; but they are rarely 

 except by a fool or a ruffian put on a bad one ; they find him 

 out too soon, and show him up too completely. Short is the 

 ceremony of getting into saddle with these men, they run a 

 searching glance over the animal, perhaps just ask the groom 

 in charge if there is any special trick or peculiarity to be guarded 

 against, then mounting quietly and quickly they draw the reins 

 lightly, feeling the mouth with a touch that at once inspires 

 confidence, and trotting gaily along with the pack than which 

 nothing puts a horse into a better humour a perfect mutual 

 understanding exists before the gorse or woodland is reached. 



It was said of the late Lord Clanricarde (the father of the 

 man who has been the object of so much polite attention on the 

 part of Irish patriots) that he could take a horse out of a post- 

 chaise and hold his own in any run ; and though there is no 

 actual record of his having ever performed this exploit, he 

 was so undeniable a follower of the chase that there is little 

 doubt that he would have attempted it, had the alternative 

 between machiner or no mount presented itself. He would at 

 all events have had the pull of condition in his favour. 



In a game such as riding to hounds where there is so much 

 brilliant rivalry, distributed over so large an area that the picked 

 champions of the various localities rarely meet, it may seem 

 invidious to select a living illustration, yet as Leicestershire is 

 still more or less the focus of the hunting world, and Captain 

 Arthur Smith of Melton for as of Melton he will always be 



