THE COLONIAL HORSE 195 



The account given in the local paper of the wind-up of the 

 Ashburton hunt for the season of 1890 is couched in the 

 following businesslike terms : 



The concluding meet for the season of the Ashburton hounds 

 was held at Elgin on Saturday, when there was a fairly numerous 

 field. A hare was found in a paddock near the bridge, and the 

 field were treated to a fifteen minutes' run over stiff wire country, 

 when the hounds threw up their heads. After a little delay they 

 got on the scent again, but the first fence, 1 one of high barbed wire, 

 was only negotiated by four of the field. This run lasted about 

 twenty-two minutes, puss being killed in a paddock near the bridge. 

 Plenty of jumping was had, fences being numerous, and some of 

 them very stiff. One of them, a straggly fence with a ditch on one 

 side, accounted for no less than five spills, none of which, fortunately, 

 were serious. The hounds were then taken to one of Mr. Butterick's 

 paddocks, on the plains. A hare was soon found, which gave a 

 run of exactly fifty minutes, through a bare wire country, being 

 ultimately ruh into on a tussock road, most of the field having 

 followed straight. This concluded the hunting season of 1890, the 

 average of kills for which is exactly one for each meet. 



The season was not a very good one, the ground having been 

 very dry from want of rain. The best run was seven miles straight 

 without a check over the stiffest wire country. There were a good 

 many empty saddles, but for twenty minutes hounds were racing. 

 On another day the Ashburton hounds had a three- quarters of an 

 hour's gallop with a kill, not very fast but over a country every fence 

 of which was of wire, or had wire in it, some a foot or so above the 

 gorse hedge, and yet there was not a single fall. One gentleman 

 who rides sixteen stone was always with hounds and first in at the 

 death. 



It is a pleasure to see with what excellent judgment and 

 nerve many of the young men ride to hounds. You see no 

 crowding and close following one on another, as experience 

 teaches that the worst falls are caused by wire that has been 

 pulled out a little way by a horse ahead of one, and leaving a 

 loop for one to jump into. Most of the hedges are of gorse, and 

 blind, so that there really is more danger of bad falls here than 



1 I have had this fence measured and find it was over five feet. O. 



O 2 



