In the Field. 57 



up your back hair. This seems to be a favorite 

 time for this performance, and many a time have 

 I groaned, yes, cussed, in spirit when this request 

 has been made of me. This request and the in- 

 quiry '*are my girths loose?" have more than 

 once caused a chill to run up and down my spine, 

 and naughty words to come up in my mouth. Do 

 not understand me as objecting to women in the 

 field ; I much prefer them to addle-pated men, and, 

 in fact, I have probably done as much hunting 

 with women as with men, and I am free to con- 

 fess the women of Kentucky are equal, if not 

 superior, to the men in the saddle. I am sure they 

 are more reckless and take greater chances, and I 

 know they have greater respect for both the writ- 

 ten and unwritten laws of the hunt. 



Never leave your line to seek another jumping 

 place unless you are sure no one else is within 

 se^^eral hundred yards and making for the same 

 objective point. If any one is fencing ahead of 

 you, make certain he has made a clean ''lep'' and 

 is out of the way. It is bad enough to ''come a 

 cropper" yourself, without having some one else 

 jump on top of you. 



Never select as a pilot a man you do not know 

 to be a fox-hunter in every sense of the word, and 

 if you see a rider tearing across a distant field at 

 your right or left, do not go to him unless you 

 have something more tangible than his action to 

 urge you. 



