130 HORSES AND RIDINa. 



nearly all Hunters are required to perform nearly 

 similar work, differing more than anything else in 

 the weight they have to carry, and the size and 

 strength therefore that is required in them, still in 

 spite of this similarity people differ very materially 

 in what they consider constitutes a good hunter. A 

 horse that is considered up to a fair hunting weight 

 in one part of the country is called a light weight 

 hack in another part, and a strong horse that is 

 looked upon as a clever weight-carrying hunter in 

 one place is set down as an under-bred brute that 

 is not fit to hunt at all in another. There is also a 

 o'reat difference in opinion a,s to the weight and size 

 a hunter ought to be, setting aside the question of the 

 weight he can carry. The second reason why there 

 is no distinct breed of hunters I take to be that 

 people found they required particular qualities to 

 form a good hunter, and considered they could obtain 

 these qualities most readily by combining two or 

 more breeds, each of which possesses some of the 

 characteristics they want. It is this method of 

 crossing two animals who are neither of them fit to 

 hunt that leads to so many disappointments in breed- 

 ino-, and causes so many animals to be bred which 

 are not adapted to any particular purpose, but are a 

 sort of nondescript, and fetch but low prices, and 

 even then are generally too dear. 



I have read several definitions of a hunter, but 

 none of them give an ordinary reader a very clear 



