THE HUNTER. 141 



with a tendency to roundness, feet contracted or otherwise likely to go 

 -wrong. Thirdly, for the saddle horse good shoulders are indispensable. 

 Without them the chances are that the horse will not step well and safely, 

 and few things are more distressing to a rider than the sensation his mount 

 gives him of an ability to stumble. In the fourth place come manners, and 

 this consideration is influenced by the circumstance that what seem to 

 be bad manners on the part of the horse may in reality be bad hands on the 

 part of the rider. Nothing is more common than to see a horse that is rest- 

 ive and troublesome, even dangerous, with one man, behaving in a most 

 exemplary way when another rider gets into the saddle ; the hack that is 

 placid and a model of obedience in the hands of No. i will decline to go 

 quietly a dozen yards straight ahead in the hands of No. 2. Before any 

 sort of opinion could be given as to the horse's manners in either case, it is 

 obviously only just that No. 3 should be called into consultation." A. E. 

 T. Watson, " Riding" Badminton Library, pp. j? and 58. 



THE HUNTER. 



If hunting is to be a pleasant diversion it is necessary 

 that the rider should be " well mounted." Especially impor- 

 tant is this point to the novice. A horse that is capable of 

 "pounding" (leading) the field under the guidance of a 

 clever rider may " come a cropper " (a fall) at the first fence 

 if ridden by a tyro. Again a person may buy an animal 

 that has " gone well " in a country where the jumping was 

 of timber, but when used in a district in which stone walls 

 abound, the horse may be almost worthless. A horse must 

 have, besides the proper conformation for jumping, a knowl- 

 edge of the character of the country, and the experience 

 of schooling. A horse "takes off" for a stone wall, on 

 either side of which there may be loose stones, differently 

 than he would for a fence where the ground was clear on 

 both sides ; the same difference exists in the method of 

 " landing." 



