272 LEAVES FROM A HUNTING UIARY 



Half-a-crown was charged for paddock tickets — at Rundells they were 

 free. Perc}' Tippler told me that he liked the course, and he has ridden 

 over a good many in his time, so I gathered it was a good one. 



About the second best hunter Mr. Christy ever owned 

 was " Schoolmaster," Irish-bred, chestnut in colour, he was a 

 very good stayer and fine fencer. 



'Tis a pity that Mr. Christy had. no photo of "Chinaman," 

 the most useful hunter he ever possessed, for the harder he 

 worked him the more " Chinaman " seemed to thrive, and at 

 the end of February or beginning of March he was always at 

 his best. For three seasons he hunted him regularly with 

 Mr. Neave's Staghounds, a very good training for point-to- 

 point races, of which he won no less than three with his 

 owner up, and a race at Harlow, carrying i3st. 7lb. Mr. 

 Christy thought that the alterations made in the Harlow 

 course in 1896 were a great improvement, and he looked upon 

 it as his lucky one, for he won the same race, the Farmer's 

 Plate, three years in succession, fairly doing the hat trick — 

 "Chinaman" 1894, " Rosebery " 1895, "Schoolmaster," 1896. 



Mr. Christy is a finished horseman, and can make a young 

 horse into an accomplished hunter quicker than most men. He 

 has won six point-to-points in the last eight years, and the 

 Farmers' race five times in the past seven years. In 1899 on 

 " Brown Tony," he did a record performance, for carrying top 

 weight he beat all the light weights, and so won both stakes. 



Season 1899-1900. Some changes to note in the mastership and the 

 staff, Mr. C. E. Green acting as Field-master in place of Mr, Arkwright 

 who had resigned at the end of last season, and Short, from the Bramham 

 Moor, taking the place of Jack Turner as first whip, and Maiden, from Mr. 

 Quare's establishment, succeeding Harry Easterby as second whip. In 

 personal appearance Short and Maiden are so much alike that they are 

 frequently mistaken for one another. 



Jack Turner went to Mr. Arkwright as second horseman. At the 

 Puppy Show held in the summer he received a very useful testimonial in 

 the shape of a purse containing about ^300, subscribed by the members of 

 the Hunt, a pretty good evidence of his popularity with all the followers of 

 the E.H. 



Cub-hunting commenced at 6 a.m. on Saturday, September i6th, at 

 Latton Park. The ground was so dry and hard after the long and almost 

 unprecedented drought and heat of the long summer of 1899, and there 

 appeared to be so little prospect of any better climatic conditions prevailing 

 for some time, that no one seemed in any hurry to get their hunters up. 



However, rain set in towards the end of September, but the ground was 

 not soft enough to get any fun out of riding before the great rain on Friday, 

 September 2gth. Commencing in the afternoon it kept on without inter- 

 ruption all night, and again came down in torrents on Saturday night and 

 Sunday morning. 



On Monday, October 2nd, hounds met at Coopersale at 7 a.m. We 



