44 HUNTING 



case they have galloped over the line of scent, doing 

 much to destroy it, so that if it is advisable to " cast 

 back," i.e. take hounds back to pick up the scent, the 

 scent will be very faint or altogether destroyed. The 

 tyro should remember that the man who jumps the 

 biggest places is not necessarily the best man to hounds. 

 The best man to hounds is the man who manages to see 

 most of the work which hounds are doincr. ]N^or is the 

 hunting-field a steeple-chase course. The man who is 

 continually trying to cut down his neighbour, and who 

 forces his way through gates, without the slightest 

 attention to the ordinary rules of courtesy, only gains 

 the unenviable reputation of being a " thrusting scoun- 

 drel" A good man on a good horse should never lose 

 sight of hounds — if he can help it — but that is no 

 reason why he should feel an inward delight because 

 his neighbour loses sight of them. Eepose of manner 

 is quite as desirable in the hunting-field as in the ball- 

 room. 



For the English tyro the foregoing remarks w411 

 probably be superfluous. ISTot in one case in a thousand 

 is he a good horseman on his first day to hounds. If 

 he keeps in his saddle over an easy fence he feels 

 proud, and we don't blame him if he does make the fence 

 a foot higher when he tells us about it after dinner. 

 It is no disgrace not to attempt a feat which one knows 

 is beyond one's powers, though very often failure brings 

 with it ridicule. There are plenty of old members in 

 every hunt, who, from their knowledge of the country, 

 manage to see most of the sport without jumping 

 anything bigger than a sheep hurdle, and who are not 

 worshippers of Macadam. They know every bridle- 

 path and gate in the country, and their knowledge 

 prevents tliem from ever getting in front of hounds 



