CHAPTER XV. 

 HUNTING PRELIMINARIES. 



Hunting as a Sport Choice of a Country The Hunting Season Getting a 

 Stable Together Hunting Men and Farmers Hunting Men and Shooting 

 Men Joining a Hunt Hounds Blood Foxes Hunting Things Hunting 

 Mufti Riding Gear Bandages and Boots Some Hunting Expressions. 



HUNTING AS A SPORT. 



FROM a riding man's point of view, hunting, as we know it 

 in Great Britain and Ireland, is the best of all sports ; chiefly 

 on account of. its variety, its high standard of excellence, 

 its interesting and exciting nature, its health-giving effects on 

 horse and rider, its easy participation, and the fact that a man 

 can take as much or as little of it as he likes, and can enjoy 

 the sport in his own way. The enclosed nature of a hunting 

 country, its varied character, and the differences in its fences, 

 render fox-hunting, as a test of horsemanship, far superior to 

 flat-racing, steeplechasing, polo, pig-sticking, show-jumping, 

 or hunting in other countries. In the days when steeple- 

 chases were run over a natural country, similar to our 

 present point-to-point chases, the fences were much the same 

 as those met with when following hounds ; but they are 

 now more or less of a uniform pattern. As far as my 

 experience goes, the next best riding sport to fox-hunting 

 is pig-sticking, which unfortunately cannot be enjoyed in 

 this country, and which has the drawbacks of dangerous 

 ground and absence of fences. In riding on the flat and 

 between the flags, the limits of weight are too narrow 

 for the generality of men, and the duration of the contest is 



