THE CHACE. 
is termed a complete snaffle-bridle horse, and a standing 
as well as a flying leaper. Held well in hand his 
rider standing up in the stirrups, holding him fast by 
the head, making the best of, and being able, from the 
comparatively slow rate at which hounds then travelled 
at, to pick or choose his ground such a horse would 
continue a chace of some hours' duration at the pace he 
was called upon to go, taking his fences well and safely 
to the last ; and he would frequently command the 
then large sum of one hundred guineas. But all these 
accomplishments would never have enabled a horse of 
this description to carry the modern sportsman, who 
rides well up to hounds, on a good scenting day, over 
one of our best hunting countries. His strength would 
be exhausted before he had gone ten minutes by the 
increased pace at which he would now be called upon 
to travel, but to which his breeding would be quite 
unequal; and his true symmetry, his perfect fencing, 
his fine mouth, and all his other points, would prove of 
very little avail. If ridden close to the hounds, he 
would be powerless and dangerous before he had gone 
across half a dozen Leicestershire enclosures. 
The increased pace of hounds, and that of the horses 
that follow them, have an intimate connection with each 
other, if not with the march of intellect. Were not the 
hounds of our day to go so fast as they do, they would 
not be able to keep clear of the crowd of riders who are 
now mounted on horses nearly equal to the racing pace. 
On the other hand, as the speed of hounds has so much 
