Hunting in England 127 



other man with a big strino" of thousand doUar hunters with 

 grooms and stable boys — "Heating their 'eads off." 



Once a week is about hunting enough for a single horse, 

 that is, with most riders, but some men can ride to hounds 

 twee and even three days a week with only one horse, but that 

 one of course, must be a thoroughly seasoned, quahfied hunter 

 that knows the game and is ridden by a man who knows how 

 to ride to save his horse. 



The writer knows several men in England Avho ride to 

 hounds five days a week with only two hunters and a hack to 

 ride or drive to the "meets." They rarely, if ever, miss a day, 

 rain or shine, and this, often, on horses that are little above 

 screws. Again their neighl)our with a stable of ten or twelve 

 hunters that cost from one thousand to two thousand dollars 

 each, may not have a horse in the string fit to ride after the 

 first month. It is sim])ly impossible, therefore, to give an esti- 

 mate of the cost of hunting. The only way to find out is to 

 cut and try. In yachting one man will get more sport and 

 pleasure out of a twenty foot yacht costing $250 than 

 the next man does from a $250,000 investment. It is not so 

 much a question of cost as inclination. Hunting is more a 

 question of the size of a man's heart for the love of the game, 

 than the sizx' of his pocketbook. When there is a rdll, the way 

 is seldom hard to find. 



It is a fact within the observation of all that, as a rule, the 

 men who indulge in outdoor sports and enjoy life as they live 

 it are seldom found among those who can have what they want, 

 but rather amongst those who adapt themselves to what they 

 can have. If they cannot att'ord a 40 foot yacht, they own or 

 hire a 20 footer. If they cannot buy a qualified hunter, they 

 can at least see the fun from the back of a colt that is growing 

 into a hunter. It might be too much to say that poverty is a 

 passport to becoming a sportsman, but it is by no means such 

 a drawback as some sui)pose. There are thousands of men 



