32 2 CENTURY OF ENGLISH FOX-HUNTING 



and the horse which did not possess this quality was 

 soon weeded out of his stables. Again, he relied 

 upon his horses, letting them take their fences in 

 their own way, a habit which was not nearly so 

 common then as it is now ; but the horses had 

 to jump. Indeed, the Earl of Cardigan was a man 

 to whom the epithet " undeniable " was especially 

 applicable in the hunting-field. He would not be 

 denied. 



I am sorry to say that now it behoves me to be 

 somewhat pessimistic. It has been the boast of 

 England for more than two hundred years that 

 she can produce more good riders than all other 

 nations can do, in spite of the fact that the Arabs, 

 the Cossacks, and the Zouaves have been acknow- 

 ledged to be finer light cavalry horsemen than our 

 Mr. own cavalry. G. S. Lowe, the editor of the 

 Sporting Life, stated in his paper of the 24th of 

 February, 1900, that the riding forces from the 

 hunting-field would be 20,000 ; but he adds, " of 

 these a great many would be poor horsemen, and 

 excepting through an augmentation from those who 

 confine themselves to harriers, there would not be 

 many good riders." 



Mr. Lowe further says : — 



"The patriotic noblemen and gentlemen who are 

 now taking the recruits for South Africa in hand 

 could give the best information on the subject, but 

 side rumours are circulated that where they have 



