DISCRETION. 135 



plenty of dirt. In the absence of that essential to 

 sport, hunters are not distressed, and therefore do not 

 often fall. 



If, however, you have undertaken to temper the rash- 

 ness of a young one with your own discretion, you must 

 expect occasional reverses ; but even thus, there are 

 many chances in your favour not the least of which is 

 your pupil's elasticity. Lithe and agile, he will make 

 such gallant efforts to save himself as usually obviate 

 the worst consequences of his mistake. The worn-out, 

 the under-bred, or the distressed horse comes down like 

 a lump of lead, and neither valour nor discretion are 

 much help to us then. 



From the pace at which hounds cross a country, 

 there is unfortunately no time to practise that most 

 discreet manoeuvre called " leading over," when the fence 

 is of so formidable a nature as to threaten certain dis- 

 comfiture, yet I have seen a few tall, powerful, active 

 men, spring off and on their horses with such rapidity 

 as to perform this feat successfully in all the hurry of a 

 burst. The late Colonel Wyndham, who, when he 

 commanded the Greys, in which regiment he served at 

 Waterloo, was said by George the Fourth to be the 

 handsomest man in the army, possessed with a giant's 

 stature the pliant agility of a harlequin. A finer rider 



