140 THE HUNTING FIELD 



Second Horseman should know a little about hunting, 

 and a good deal of the country in which his perform- 

 ances are required. This knowledge of hunting should 

 be sufficient to keep him from doing mischief, at all 

 events, while his knowledge of the country, and of 

 the usual runs of foxes, should enable him to have 

 his horse up, when wanted, fresh and fit to go on. 



Looking at the second-horse system in its ordinary 

 everyday aspect, we cannot, however, help saying, 

 that there is a good deal of flash and humbug, in 

 the majority of instances, where we see them out. 

 Except for very heavy men, or very hard riders on 

 very good days, one horse ought to do all that reason- 

 able riders need require. Gentlemen's horses are not 

 like servants' horses, continually on the go. While 

 the men are trotting and crashing over big places in 

 a cast, gentlemen have nothing to do but turn their 

 horses' heads to the wind, and give them their pufl 

 Servants, in far the greater number of countries, have 

 but one horse a-piece out, and theirs come more 

 regularly and more continuously throughout the 

 season, than the horses of any of the field. The 

 servants, too, must be with their hounds, must go on 

 to the end of the day, whereas gentlemen may shut 

 up and go home at any moment they like. 



Roads are now so numerous and accommodating, 

 that a servant with an eye and moderate brains, ought 

 to be able to pilot a second horse, without putting 

 him to anything like work. Some fellows, however, 

 never learn a country. They will ride over the same 

 country for years, nay, will do the same circle twice 

 in a day, without discovering that they are not going 

 straight. They are like the lady who got into the 

 inner circle of the Regent's Park, and walked for 

 many hours, thinking she was never going to get 

 round. 



Many of the second horses that we see in the 

 hunting field, however, are there from the repletion 



