174 HUNTING 



seems to be an hereditary sympathy between horse and 

 hound, as if Providence had ordained that the two 

 should work together. The sight of hounds imparts 

 keenness to every nerve in a horse's body. In the 

 case of a young horse it requires the patience of the 

 rider to restrain his ardour, otherwise he may never 

 get rid of intemperate habits at covert-side. Nothing 

 can be more disagreeable both to oneself and one's 

 neighbours than to ride a horse which is always 

 fidgeting, and never will stand still. Yet such horses 

 are common in every hunt. On examination, we have 

 found that the excitement is due to the horse having 

 been ridden in the first place by an excitable rider. 

 He was infected by the latter's excitement, and has 

 never got rid of the infection. Besides, there are 

 some people who never can be quiet or still at covert- 

 side. Such people spoil their own horses, and other 

 people's sport. 



The three- year -old must not be brought out too 

 often in his first season, and then only for short days. 

 Many promising young horses are spoilt by being over- 

 worked in their first season, through their owners 

 wishing to show them off in order to sell them. 

 Their strength is far from being fully developed, and 

 they ought not to be subjected to the fatigue of a big 

 day. Mark a three-year-old in the field, and mark the 

 same horse the next season when he is a four-year-old. 

 It is difficult to believe that it is the same horse, so 

 much will he have filled out. But it is merely the 

 difference between the boy and the man, and as nobody 

 expects a boy to do a man's work, so the three-year-old 



