194 



LEAVES FROM A HUNTING DIARY 



worse than the plough, and without you possess a horse of great stamina 

 and exceptional soundness, you can never see a day through properly. 

 I have known more horses cooked and lamed in this neighbourhood than 

 any other. Not only is the going heavy, but the hills are steep, the rides 

 deep, and the fences many of them stiff drops — the very ones to try the 

 back sinews and lame a valuable horse. I write from experience. 

 " Therefore avoid Galley Hills when the water fills every hoof mark and 

 swishes up from every headland," and if you can discover a boot im- 

 pervious to the moisture of Galley Hills, take out a patent and your fortune 

 is made. 



Richard Francis Ball 



Richard Francis Ball will be known to posterity as the 

 joint author, with Mr. Tresham Gilbey, of "The History of 

 the Essex Foxhounds." He is known to those who follow 

 the fortunes of that pack as a very keen rider, and very fond 

 of a horse that can gallop. He is very fortunate in possessing' 

 a wife as fond of hunting as himself, thus doubling the joy he 

 extracts from the game. 



Mrs. R. F. Ball is one of those charming ladies whom 

 hunting men welcome in their midst, for keen as she is, she is 



