RIDING TO HOUNDS 243 



require time for a horse either to change his feet 

 on the top if it is broad, or kick back if it is 

 narrow. An Englishman is apt at first to sail 

 gaily down to a "narrow-back" and to charge it 

 as if it was a flying-fence in his own country, but 

 an Irishman treats it with great respect, especially 

 if it is on the margin of a bog. Such banks are 

 made of very crumbling material, and none require 

 more training and cleverness on the part of the 

 steed. A great broad bank, such as is often met 

 with in Westmeath, for instance, which strikes 

 terror into a stranger's heart, is treated by a native 

 with much nonchalance, for they are very simple, 

 if a horse is not in a great hurry. Banks that are 

 covered with gorse, into which a horse must 

 blindly plunge, are necessarily awkward obstacles, 

 for much has to be taken on trust ! Very formid- 

 able obstacles, too, are those in Cornwall and 

 South Devon, on account of their perpendicular 

 character ; while sometimes they are not less than 

 eight or nine feet to the top, on which grows a 

 luxuriant hedge. They are faced with stones for 

 about four feet, to prevent bullocks horning them 

 down, and a horse must dig his hind hoofs into 

 the bank above the stones to get sufficient purchase 

 to make another effort to get to the top. When 

 he has got there it is quite likely there is an im- 

 possible place on the other side, and he must then 

 turn round and come down the same way he 

 went up. Possibly some of the most awkward 

 banks to be met with are in the north of England, 

 where, though the bank itself is not so very high, 

 there is a playful custom of erecting a low post- 

 and-rail on the top, to prevent that very active 

 animal, a black-faced sheep, from trespassing 

 into a neighbour's field. This is too formidable 



