THE MODERN FOXHOUND 



minimises jar and concussion, and incident ally- 

 provides an easier ride for the man in the 

 saddle when crossing a country. 



Harking back to bone, and subsequent weight, 

 you do not require the bone of the cart-horse in 

 the hunter, so why overload a hound with it ? 

 Light and medium boned hounds with proper 

 constitutions, last quite as long, in fact longer 

 than heavy-boned hounds, at any rate in rough 

 country, and the same applies in an ordinary 

 country like the Shires. The hound has nothing 

 but himself to carry, and it is the small, compact 

 hound, not over burdened with bone, that 

 ' ' stands the racket " best. 



We have already mentioned the names of 

 three famous hounds of the past, i.e., Rally wood, 

 Weathergage, and Gambler. Could these three 

 hounds come back to life and be judged at Peter- 

 borough, they would be rejected on accoimt of 

 size, and in all probability they would also be 

 passed over as stud hounds, despite their records 

 in the field. As for stamina, Gambler ran with 

 the pack for fourteen seasons, a feat which cannot 

 be placed to the credit of any of the hounds of 

 standard type now. A hound of the Gambler 

 type, while not the sort for a very rough country, 

 is nevertheless suited for work in the Shires, and 

 he and others justified their breeding, by doing 

 their work well in the country to which they 

 belonged. 



At the present time clean necks are a fetish 

 with breeders of the standard type of hound. 

 John Warde, the " father of modern hunting," 

 always favoured a throaty hound, despite the 

 fact that " John Warde's neck cloth " was used 

 as a term of reproach by fashionable breeders. 

 Now a bit of " neck cloth " is invariably a sign 



123 



