138 



OUR DOMESTIC ANIMALS 



wonderfully well for their work. After passing 

 another six months in training at the regimen- 

 tal stations they are drafted into the squadrons 

 or the batteries. 



VI. Hunting 



After war came hmiting as the next neces- 

 sity in which men learned to use horses, as 

 we see by the statues and engra\- 

 ings that represent to us 

 St. George hunting th 

 dragon and comiiiL: 

 victorious from , 

 the fight. 



The 

 structio 

 of dan- 

 gerous 

 and 



Hunting has always been an English passion 

 which, like many other sports and bodily exer- 

 cises, has passed from Great Britain to the 

 Continent and to America. This explains why 

 the English have applied themselves especially 

 to the breeding of hunting horses. The country 

 itself, by the lay of its land, is very favorable to 

 cynegetic exercises, having few curves and many 

 plains with only such obstacles and 

 barriers as a horse can jump. 

 The annals of hunting' 



mischie 

 vous ani- 

 mals, whK.i 

 at first was a ' 

 necessity, be- 

 came very quickly a 

 pleasure, and has endol 

 in becoming an art, thanks to 

 the enjoyment derived from motion 

 in the open air, and from the pleasure 

 of surmounting obstacles and braving dangers. 

 The death of the hunted animal is only an 

 accessory; the seeking of the dogs, the joyous 

 sound of the huntsman's horn, the pleasure 

 of proving to others our agility, strength, 

 courage, intrepidity, — herein lies the true joy 

 of hunting. 



iclated 



' that early 



y' m the last 



.f cent u r y a 



*^.^^.,^r deer, hunted b\- 



the hounds of the 



,.- king of England, ran 



I'lr four hours and forty-five 



GeRM.\X BoI)V(,U.\RD 



minutes. Rider after 



;r a:a\'e up 



and could ride no more. One horse 

 fell dead, another expired before he reached the 

 stable, and seven others died during the follow- 

 ing week (a mortality as great as or even greater 

 than that of a Spanish bullfight). Huntsmen 

 never lose sight of the game, which can, there- 

 fore, never slacken its speed or rest for a single 

 instant. For the best horse a run of four hours 



