THE HORSE ON WHICH TO HUNT 19 



absolutely straight, over * cock ' fences, guiltless of 

 wire, or that we never have a nasty bottom to 

 cross, or a road to jump out of, because the sort of 

 run described above is the only one in which such 

 a horse could be anything like an agreeable mount. 

 What we want, for most countries, is a short-legged, 

 thoroughbred hunter up to fourteen stone. Few of 

 us are lucky enough to obtain him without a stain 

 in his pedigree ; but all men who ride under 

 fourteen stone should, I believe, get as near to this 

 type as their purse will allow. 



There is nothing in this world in which perfec- 

 tion is so hard to obtain as in horse-flesh, and most 

 of us must perforce be content with something a 

 good deal short of it. 



A lover of horses would, I imagine, fain be the 

 possessor of a stud of one size and stamp : in a 

 word, ' a level lot ' ; but you must remember that 

 a collection such as this, like all other collections, 

 is an expensive luxury, and, even with ample 

 means at your disposal, can only be obtained at the 

 cost of considerable time and trouble. A stud of 

 this sort bears somewhat the same relation to that 

 of the sportsman of moderate means ; as a book- 

 shelf of first editions, or ' editions de luxe ' to the 

 common workaday volumes which you and I keep 

 on our library shelves. These latter may serve every 

 useful purpose, but do not please the taste and eye 



c 2 



