16 NOTES FOR HUNTING-MEN" 



sa3ang this, I am, in all humility, dilTering from 

 the former practice of a man who has many years 

 ago forgotten more than I can ever hope to know 

 of riding over Leicestershire, perhaps the most 

 gallant veteran that this or any hunting country 

 has ever seen, Mr. Tailby, the ' Squire ' of Skef- 

 fington Hall. A very small, light man, he used, 

 when master of the country now ruled by Mr. 

 Fernie, to ride big horses up to several stone more 

 than his weight, and he was undefeated ; but I have 

 seen Mr. Tailby, when well over seventy years of 

 age, and with a recently broken thigh (he had 

 broken every other bone in his body with apparently 

 no effect on his iron nerve), I have seen him, 

 I say, go right to the front on small horses ; so 

 that perhaps he may, in later life, have modified 

 his views. In any case, it is impossible to 

 draw any trustworthy deductions one way or 

 the other from an instance so exceptional as the 

 * Squire.' 



Since writing the above, I came across, by 

 chance, the following words of wisdom on this 

 subject by ' Brooksby,' whose practical experience 

 of the requirements of the ' grass countries ' is 

 unrivalled. Hear what he says : 



' A big, well-balanced horse can carry himself, 

 and nine times out of ten will carry a rider too, be 

 the latter qualified to do little more than merely 



