THE HUNTER 89 



The hips of a hunter cannot be too wide; "ragged" 

 or prominent hips may offend the eye, but they 

 certainly do not tend to lessen the strength of the 

 horse, and the hunter must have propelling power to 

 carry him over any reasonable fence. 



We trust that the novice will find these few hints 

 to be of practical use to him in the preliminary choice 

 of a hunter. We have purposely omitted to mention 

 the head of the horse, because the difference between 

 a good head and a bad head is apparent to anybody 

 who is not blind. We would only say that the fore- 

 head should be straight ; a prominent forehead, in nine 

 cases out of ten, means vice and stupidity. Nor 

 have we said anything about colour, for " a good horse 

 cannot be a bad colour." Of course if the purchaser 

 has any preferences or objections in regard to colour, 

 he should state them to the dealer in the first place ; 

 but we see no reason for holding any such preferences 

 or objections. 



Though we shall have to speak of bits later on in 

 Part II., it will not be out of place to mention 

 here that the purchaser should always ask the vendor 

 in what bit he has been accustomed to ride the horse, 

 for a horse may be as gentle as the proverbial lamb in 

 one bit, and exhibit the temper of the arch-fiend in 

 another. 



We have often been asked what is the best height 

 for a hunter. The inquirers might just as well ask 

 us what should be the height of a wife. We can 

 only say that tall horses are more pleasant to ride 

 than short lobby horses, and, what perhaps is of more 

 interest to the novice, easier to sit over fences. 



