FENCES, COUNTRY AND GATES. 269 



speed is a much more valuable attribute of a hunter 

 than cleverness in jumping, because the main object of 

 the rider will then be, as a rule, to get over fields 

 and through gates with a minimum of " lepping." 

 Some of our Colonial sisters might taunt us for not 

 trying to leap wire in the brave manner done by Miss 

 Harding (Fig. 102) and other New Zealand and 

 Australian horsewomen, but their conditions of country 

 are entirely different from ours. In the Shires, for 

 instance, wire, as a great rule, is visible only from one 

 side of the fence which it contaminates, and often takes 

 the form of a concealed trap. Hence it is carefully 

 avoided both by horses at grass and by riders. 



My husband tells me that banks, stone walls and 

 " stone gaps " are the chief fences in Ireland ; that 

 hedges are seldom encountered, except in the form of 

 furze on the top of banks ; and that he has rarely seen 

 posts and rails in his native land. While enjoying 

 a very pleasant visit last winter with Mr. Arthur 

 Pollok, the Master of the East Gal way Hounds, he 

 took the photographs of Figs. 115 to 120. Fig. 115 

 shows a broad bank about 4 feet high, with a deep 

 ditch on each side, and a tall man standing on the top 

 of it, so as to give an idea of its dimensions. Fig. 1 16 

 is a side view of Fig. 115. In Fig. 117, Mr. Pollok, 

 who is also tall, is standing beside a higher and more 

 upright bank which has the usual accompaniment of 

 broad ditches. In Fig. 118, the very popular Master 

 of the East Galway is close to a typical Galway stone 

 wall of the " cope and dash " order and close on 5 feet 



