354 HUNTING. 



HIRELINGS. 



The large majority of hunting women ride their 

 own animals, or mounts lent them by friends ; but 

 some less fortunate ones have to content themselves 

 with hirelings, many of which are unreliable convey- 

 ances, because they pass through so many hands, that 

 they run a great risk of being spoiled by bad riders, 

 and in that respect, horses have unfortunately very 

 retentive memories. From two to three guineas is the 

 usual charge for a day; and from 12 to 20 for a 

 month. In both cases, the job-master has to bear all 

 reasonable risks. A person who hires a horse for 

 longer than a day, has to keep the animal and pay 

 for his shoeing. ^15 a month is a reasonable charge 

 for the loan of a good hunter. When wishing to hire 

 by the month, it is well to go to a job-master who has 

 a large collection of hirelings, like Mr. Sam Hames 

 of Leicester, so that the hirer may get a change of 

 mounts, in the event of the first not being suitable. 



I have ridden a few hirelings, but hunting on 

 them gave me no pleasure ; because I was entirely 

 ignorant of their capabilities, and it is not a pleasant 

 feeling to ride at a nasty fence with a big note of 

 interrogation sticking in one's heart. " Scrutator" in 

 his interesting book, Foxhunting, says he " never could 

 find any pleasure in riding strange horses. They 

 neither understand your way of doing business, nor 

 you theirs, so there must of necessity be doubts 



