HUNTERS AND HUNTING. 591 



the horse to go carefully at his fences, let him learn to be 

 bold, taking off at least a stride away, and landing a stride 

 beyond the far side. It requires a little lighter hand and a 

 little more confidence, but he is soon with you if you give 

 him a chance; even if you are just from some drag stone- 

 wall country where you had to be careful, you will find that 

 after he has steadied himself at one or two fences and jacked 

 over them, so to speak, he begins to comprehend the situa- 

 tion as well as you do, and within a day or two stands off 

 as well as the rest, and you would hardly believe you had 

 the same horse ; but many a time you get into a corner or 

 narrow lane, when you will find that the careful work that 

 you put in to make him clever at home works perfectly. 

 The Genesee Valley season lasts from October i until after 

 Thanksgiving, and on good days through the winter. 



The Hunts in and about Philadelphia, including the 

 Radnor, Rose Tree and others, open about November i, 

 and run through the winter; rain or shine, soft or frost, is 

 the way they go, and surely it is not a bad one, and if you 

 talk with any of the men who go strong in this country you 

 will find that their objections to jumping good horses on 

 frozen ground are few and far between. 



The fences are all that a gamie man might desire ; four 

 feet, post and rail, not old weather-beaten fences such as 

 you find in some countries ready to topple over when you 

 hit them, but good vigorous fences that if you hit you stop 

 then and there. If you go to this country take one or two 

 that you can depend on absolutely, as the country has got 

 to be jumped clean if at all. 



What will impress you most if you have been hunting 

 where there is only one pack is the fact that in and about 



