56 HUNTING . . 



the case of a little girl out in charge of the family 

 coachman. A lady has, invariably, some male relation 

 in the field to come to her rescue should she need 

 assistance; and a pad-groom, who conceives it his 

 duty to be always close to his mistress, is an unmiti- 

 gated nuisance in the field. Even in the absence of 

 the male relation, a lady may be sure of getting all 

 the help, and more of it than she requires, in the 

 case of an emergency. Therefore we fail to see the 

 slightest necessity for a pad-groom in the field. Of 

 course we class those ladies, who merely come out to 

 see hounds draw and to trot along the roads for an 

 hour or so, in the same category with the little girl 

 and the family coachman. 



It is, perhaps, needless to tell the tyro that, if he is 

 riding a kicker, he should avoid any crowd at a gate 

 or gap, or while standing outside covert; but if his 

 horse be a confirmed kicker — and many good hunters 

 are so — he should wear a conspicuous label on his back, 

 marked K — I — X, which he can get from his saddler. 

 If he discovers the kicking propensities for the first 

 time in the field, he should not only avoid crowds, 

 but, if he hears anybody behind him, should raise 

 his whip-hand behind his back. 



A mistake which not only the tyro who is a fair 

 rider, but many men who ought to know better, often 

 make is, that when they elect to follow a man, i.e. 

 take him as their pilot, they ride too close behind him, 

 or, to use the technical expression, they "ride in his 

 pocket." The result is that if the pilot's horse makes 

 a blunder, the man who is following him is on the 

 top of him, with consequences more or less disastrous, 

 and, if the pilot is able to speak, the language will 

 generally be unfit for publication. 



