20 NOTES FOR HUNTING-MEN 



of a connoisseur to the same extent. Most of us 

 must be satisfied to have our book-shelves and our 

 boxes filled with good useful articles ; so, should you 

 belong to the many, I would counsel you, at 

 starting, to put on one side all ' luxurious ' ideas, 

 and, without being over-particular about looks, 

 never let slip an opportunity of securing a horse 

 which you know to be a good and stout performer, 

 practically sound, at a fair price. They go in all 

 shapes and sizes and colours. I can only think of 

 two things which I should avoid at any cost in 

 buying a hunter, unless (and you see there is alwaj^s 

 a saving clause) he is an exceptional performer 

 going at an exceptional price. These two things 

 are : 



1. Bad shoulders. 



2. Too great length of leg. 



It is very hard to be dogmatic on the first point 

 without having a ride on the animal and feeling 

 how he moves them. A horse with a 

 really bad shoulder cannot move well over 

 ridge and furrow or down hill. Many tyros, 

 through want of knowledge of the anatomy of the 

 animal, confuse a high wither with good shoulders, 

 and vice versa. The two formations are often 

 found together, but one is not at all necessarily the 

 corollary of the other. A low, somewhat coarse 

 wither, well covered with muscle, when combined 



