Breeding of Hunters. 24 1 



somewhat on the wane since the Hills gave up the 

 hounds. Still, though the fields are not what they 

 were, the breeders of hunters have lost none of their 

 traditional renown. By the side of the gently-flowing 

 Teme, and that pleasant Herefordshire Arcadia into 

 which it leads, and in and about the mighty Norman 

 fortress of Ludlow, the central point of view from so 

 many broad dales, and bare heathery hills, jostling 

 and crowding one another right into the heart of 

 Wales, some of the rarest hunters of the present cen- 

 tury have been reared. They have always been espe- 

 cially prized by the dealers, and generally run from 

 fifteen-two to fifteen-three. As a class they are long 

 and low, and quick striders through dirt, and so sweet 

 and clean about the head, that " he's got the Shrop- 

 shire head" is one of the most time-honoured phrases 

 of the dealers' vocabulary. They invariably improve 

 in this part as they get older, as the serum wastes, 

 and nothing but muscle is left. In his day, Mr. 

 Anderson, senior, used to be very fond of Shropshire 

 hunters as a class, and he would get down before 

 almost any of his brethren to Shrewsbury fair, invite 

 fifteen to twenty farmers to breakfast at The Raven, 

 and bring away fourteen or fifteen of their best nags. 

 The breeders to the Ludlow country owe not a little 

 to the late Mr. Lechmere Charlton, for the carefully- 

 culled sires he introduced. At one time, however, the 

 Shropshire men grew more careless about pedigree, 

 and just selected the cheapest sire that happened to 

 travel their way, or flaunted in ribbons through 

 Shrewsbury market. The usual result took place : 

 bodies grew less and less, and the beautiful heads, or 

 " bonnets," which Comus and Strephon brought into 

 the country, began to be replaced by a shapeless 

 thing " as big as a sugar warehouse." The regular 

 old Shropshire type of hunters, who pricked up their 

 ears at the challenge of the Trojans, is derived prin- 

 cipally from Black Sultan, Revenge, and Regulus, 



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