CHAPTER III 



THE HUNTER. 



AS a rule not much difficulty is experienced in obtaining 

 light weight hunters, but when it comes to finding weight 

 carriers, the matter becomes a somewhat troublesome one. 

 For many years the difficulty has been experienced, chiefly 

 because — we now speak of the condition of affairs before that 

 worthy society, the Hunters' Improvement Society, began 

 to show the utihty of its formation — the breeding of hunters — 

 if such it could be called — was carried on regardless of system, 

 selection, or fixity of type ; in other words, the hunter was 

 got by chance, and made by choice. 



If horse breeding was worked on such lines as these, the 

 horses of this country — hkewise those of other countries — 

 would soon lose (and this is the reason why so many weedy 

 specimens exist) the splendid qualities and qualifications they 

 now possess. 



That there have been as good hunters in the past as in the 

 present day, is unquestionabl}/ true, but most of these were 

 " chance " productions, and often were moulded into shape 

 by some of the departed followers of the chase, who now live 

 in our minds as kings of the chase. In those days the schooling 

 of the hunter occupied first place, its breeding second. 



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