14 THE CONDITION OF HUNTERS 



hunter over a country.^ But the qualifications of a 

 good hack are so numerous as to be almost dishearten- 

 ing to look for them : he must have good fore-legs 

 as well as good hinder ones ; he must have perfect 

 feet, a good mouth, not given to start, safe on his legs, 

 gentle in his temper, and quiet to ride on all occasions. 

 A fidgety hack, however good in his nature, is very 

 unpleasant, and in hot weather insupportable. He 

 is fit for nothing but to ride to covert at the rate of 

 twenty miles in the hour ; and in that case his being 

 a little eager to get on may be immaterial, as the 

 disease and the remedy travel together. I remember 

 asking a young Oxonian whether his hack was a good 

 one, and his answer was, " Capital ! he ran away with 

 me every yard of the road (fourteen miles) to covert 

 this morning." For such quick work, however, it 

 is necessary that a hack should be well-bred. A 

 low-bred one will go very pleasantly at this rate for 

 about ten miles, when he wiU begin to roll about and 

 become unsafe. In the language of grooms, he will 

 " cry out for his mamma." There are very few excep- 

 tions to this rule, for Nature seldom goes out of her 

 course to oblige any man. 



There is one most essential quality, a sine qua non 

 in a good hack which is, that he should go near the 



^ What I have now asserted was completely verified by that cele- 

 brated horse The Clipper. His fore-legs were so twisted that he was 

 generally booted to go to covert, and his temper so awkward that it 

 was necessary that some one should accompany the boy who rode 

 him to open the gates. It is almost unnecessary to add that he 

 was the property of Mr Lindo, and perhaps the most brilliant hunter 

 that ever appeared in Leicestershire. 



