230 RIDING RECOLLECTIONS. 



need not be nearly so well-mounted. There are few 

 provincial countries in which a man who knows how to 

 ride, cannot get from one field to another, by hook or by 

 crook, with a little creeping and scrambling and blun- 

 dering, that come far short of the casualty we deprecate 

 as "a rattling fall ! " His horse must be in good condition 

 of course, and able to gallop ; also if temperate, the 

 more willing at his fences the better, but it is not indis- 

 pensable that he should possess the stride and power 

 necessary to cover some twenty feet of distance, and 

 four or five of height, at every leap, nor the blood that 

 can alone enable him to repeat the exertion, over and 

 over again, at three-quarter speed in deep ground. To 

 jump, as it is called, " from field to field," tries a horse's 

 stamina no less severely than his courage, while, as I 

 have already observed, there is no such economy of 

 effort, and even danger, as to make two small fences 

 out of a large one. 



I do not mean to say that there are any parts of 

 England where, if hounds run hard, a hunter, with a 

 workman on his back, has not enough to do to live with 

 them, but I do consider that, cceteris paribtts, a good 

 rider may smuggle a moderate horse over most of our 

 provincial countries, whereas he would be helpless on 

 the same animal in Leicestershire or Northamptonshire. 



