RIDING TO HOUNDS 25 



Captain Smith is the possessor of a bow which can squeeze 

 a tune out of the most unpromising fiddles. 



The professional rough riders, the men who earn their living 

 by schooling hunters in the hunting field, may seem hardly to 

 come under the denomination of riders to hounds, yet those 

 who know their business are amongst the very best we have. 

 For it is obvious that if a horse is to be trained till he is worthy 



' It can't be done ! ' 



of the much-used, oft-abused appellations of ' Confidence,' or 

 * Perfection,' he must learn not only how to jump fences when 

 he is fresh, but also how to go on and get over them when tired, 

 and this lesson can never be learnt unless he is occasionally 

 ridden right through a run in the best available company. It is 

 as easy to teach a hunter to ' chuck it ' when he has had what 

 he considers enough, and his ideas of enough contract very 

 speedily, as it is to teach a race-horse to retire gracefully 



