THE PORTLAND 



and although the financial crisis of 1908 hurt the enterprise a great deal, 

 Mr. McGrath and his associates stuck to it and made it come out even. 

 It is now proposed to make this Horse Show an annual event and the amount 

 of support given to it merely illustrates the fact that the Pacific slope is 

 about ready for this sort of thing. 



At the present writing, the hounds in the possession of the Club do not 

 amount to much, but, as has been said, these will shortly be replaced by a 

 larger and better pack. The membership is now over one hundred and 

 twenty-five active members and the Field rarely numbers less than thirty, 

 with a goodly percentage of ladies. The country is absolutely different from 

 any other in America, and consists, for the most part, of level but rather 

 rough pasture land, portions of which are heavily timbered. Mr. McGrath, 

 himself, describes his country as follows: "Our stiff est jumps here are fallen 

 trees, and to realize what I mean it is necessary to see them. Over these 

 obstacles one gets jumps varying anywhere from two to eight feet in height. 

 Of course we have no horses here which can jump eight feet, but we clear 

 the trunks, — usually four to five feet high, — and crash through the branches 

 as best we can. The members are very keen and the other day we had a 

 stiff run through which thirty-six of them rode all the way. 



" Out here we ride thoroughbreds a great deal and, personally, 1 prefer a 

 level-headed thoroughbred to any other horse in the world. Of course, I 

 have had some which were not much good, but on the whole they exactly 

 suit me. Our people also hunt half and three-quarter bred horses, the sire 

 being always clean-bred and the dam a range mare or a mare with more or 

 less hot blood. At present, I have a little horse, about three-quarter bred, 

 who, when he came to me, had very bad manners and would not jump at 

 all ; but he had a world of endurance and plenty of speed and now there is 

 no obstacle big enough to prevent him from trying." 



O ye thrusters of the eastern hunting countries, remember the unbreakable 

 character of these obstacles in the Portland Hunt country, and respectfully 

 salute the western sportsmen who ride at them ! 



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