590 HUNTERS AND HUNTING. 



Oh, the pity of it. England with its numberless hunts 

 on a small Island, America with its few hunts scattered here 

 and there, and principally drags on account of the impossi- 

 bility of following the live fox into woods, swamps, and over 

 stony country. What America lacks more than all is the 

 interchange of horse, man, and hospitality, and this latter is 

 almost impossible on account of the distances. 



Hunt drag-hounds in Massachusetts if you have to, teach 

 your horse that the safest way is to go up quietly, steady 

 himself, see what is on the other side, and then jump. No 

 matter how well you know the country it is more or less 

 unsafe to do otherwise, as some one might have knocked a 

 rock off the wall and it stays where you want to land. Of 

 course your old true and tried hunter has each leg under 

 as good control as a High School Horse, and if a rock 

 happens to be in the wrong place, he will light on the other 

 foot just as though it was his original intention. 



" Come, I will show you a country with acres of woodland 

 and oceans of grass." But in America there are only possibly 

 two or three such countries. Genesee Valley is ideal, and 

 even if the season is dry and you only get a run or two, a 

 few weeks spent in the most glorious country you ever saw- 

 will not be lost. Here the wall is the exception as there are 

 only one or two in the ten miles up and down the valley ; 

 rail fences and now and then a slat wire fence are the prin- 

 cipal obstacles. This sort of fence, and the fact that it is 

 principally a grazing country, makes the take off and the 

 landing perfect; both you and your mount can see just 

 exactly what is on the other side, and there is no reason for 

 you to pull up. 



Sit close, let him gallop strong, and instead of teaching 



