1 72 RIDING RECOLLECTIONS. 



of no great age, and nearer sixteen hands than fifteen- 

 two ! This was a very easy horse to ride, and could 

 literally jump anything he got his nose over. A picture 

 to look at, with a coat like satin, the eyes of a deer, and 

 the truest action in his slow as in his fast paces, he has 

 always been my ideal of perfection in a hunter. 



But it would be endless to enumerate the many 

 examples I can recall of the thorough-bred's superiority 

 in the hunting-field. Those I have mentioned belong 

 to a by-gone time, but a man need not look very 

 narrowly into any knot of sportsmen at the present day, 

 particularly after a sharpish scurry in deep ground, 

 before his eye rests on the thin tail, and smoothly 

 turned quarters, that need no gaudier blazon to attest 

 the nobility of their descent. 



If you mean, however, to ride a thorough-bred one, 

 and choose to make him yourself, do not feel dis- 

 appointed that he seems to require more time and 

 tuition than his lower-born cousins, once and twice 

 removed. 



In the first place you will begin by thinking him 

 wanting in courage ! Where the half-bred one, eager, 

 flurried, and excited, rushes wildly at an unaccustomed 

 difficulty, your calmer gentleman proceeds deliberately 

 to examine its nature, and consider how he can best 



