OF FARRIERY. 



447 



Horse in his leap, are precisely tije same as 

 those which refer to liim when unquiet, and 

 he alternately rears \ id kicks; if (lying-, sit 

 fast, give your nag his head, and have your 

 wits about you. It may be often necessary to 

 touch your Horse with the spur or whip tow- 

 ards the finish of his leap, in order to make 

 him clear his hind legs ; to the Horse much 

 ought, indeed must, be confided in this affair. 

 If seasoned and a staunch fencer, it is a peril- 

 ous thing to drive him at a leap that he, most 

 assuredly the best and safest judge, has re- 

 fused ; and how many accidents have hap- 

 pened from that vain-glorious practice ? Nor 

 is it always successful to drive a raw Horse, 

 by the force of whip and spur, at a fence that 

 has alarmed him, it may render him habitu- 

 ally desperate and careless. 



The vvay to make a Horse a steady, prompt, 

 and safe fencer, is to suffer him to take it by 

 degrees and spontaneously. Some very ex- 

 cellent hedge-fencers are naturally shy of 

 timber, in particular palings and hurdles, 

 sucli Horses cannot be safely put to those of 

 any considerable height. 



For leaping the Irish Horse is unrivalled. 

 It is not, however, the leaping of the English 

 Horse, striding as it were over a low fence, 

 and stretched at his full len^fth over a his-her 

 one ; but it resembles the jump of the deer. 

 The training of the Irish Horse must, we sup- 

 pose, make this difference, as in riding in that 

 country a horseman has to meet with fences 

 very different from those of England; stone 

 walls are common. 



The passion of Horses for hunting was ex- 

 emplified some years ago in a most extraor- 

 dinary manner. Three of the Horses of the 

 Brighton coach chanced to have finished their 

 stage, and to have been standing unharnassed 



at the instant Lord Derby's stag-hounds 

 passed in full cry ; the Horses started off and 

 joined the hunt, and had the gratification of a 

 run of some length, until the hounds v/ere 

 Vihipped off. Even after which, they fol- 

 lowed the stag till they got up to his haunches, 

 and then chased him three miles on the high 

 road, when the stag taking a high fence, left 

 them snorting on the wrong side, to be se- 

 cured by those in quest of them. 



This deer was more fortunate than one 

 which was hunted by the same pack, as the 

 result will shew. Some years since, the Earl 

 of Derby turned out from the Oaks, a noble 

 deer, for a day's sport with his friends ; which 

 after having traced a very long tract of coun- 

 try, entered the grounds of the late Mrs. 

 Smith, of Ashted, near Epsom, Surrey, and 

 being closely pursued by the hounds, it actu- 

 ally leaped through the drawing-room win- 

 dow, the sash of which was down, followed by 

 the pack in full cry. The consternation occa- 

 sioned in the family, by this strange event was 

 indescribable. At that critical moment, no 

 one was in the apartment, some ladies having 

 quitted it about two minutes previously to the 

 irruption of this novel and unexpected visitor, 

 which entered with so little ceremony. The 

 window was almost dashed to atoms, and 

 every part of the room, with its rich carpet 

 and corresponding furniture, covered with 

 blood and dirt. The animal was soon dis- 

 patched by the ferocity of the dogs, and per- 

 haps so curious an event is not to be found in 

 the annals of Sporting. As a companion, 

 however, to the above, a stag graduating 

 towards the city of Oxford, at length took to 

 one of the streets, through which he was fol- 

 lowed by the hounds in full cry, into a chapel, 

 and there killed, during divine service. 



