i8 THE CONDITION OF HUNTERS 



be nearly down before you feel him ; and when the 

 centre of gravity is lost it is not so easily restored. 

 Feeling a horse's mouth in this way is a still greater 

 security from faUs proceeding from any of the last 

 mentioned causes, as so little previous warning is 

 generally given, A few years since I was riding to 

 covert with a master of fox-hounds who rode heavy, 

 and seeing him going along at the rate of twelve miles 

 in the hour, up and down hill, with his reins on his 

 horse's neck, I observed to him that I should be afraid 

 to trust him. His answer was that " he could not fall." 

 The very next time he rode him, however, he did fall, 

 rolling completely over him ; and, had it not been 

 that the ground was soft, must in all probability have 

 killed or seriously hurt him. However pleasant and 

 wholesome horse-exercise is, it has been remarked 

 that no man who gets on a horse knows how or when 

 he shall get off him ; and certain it is that when, under 

 any circumstances, we trust our safety to another, 

 the insurance becomes doubly hazardous. Common 

 precautions, therefore, are neither to be despised nor 

 neglected. A leg, a thigh, or a skull is soon fractured, 

 and a really good and safe hack is not only, as I before 

 mentioned, the most scarce and difficult horse to be 

 met with, but invaluable to a man who rides much on 

 the road, particularly after a certain time of hfe has 

 gone by. 



Although it is not necessary, or to be expected, 

 that a hack should be a hunter, yet a hunter, to be 

 perfect, should be a good hack, and his value is much 

 increased by his being so. I remember hearing a 



