356 RIDTNC; TO HOI NDS 



— the one man shall ride three or four stone heavier than the other ! 

 This appears paradoxical, but every day's experience proves it. Let 

 us endeavour to account for it. 



If hounds always ran straight over a country, the difficulty of 

 riding to them would be materially lessened. A good horse, with a 

 good hand upon him and boldly ridden, would nineteen times out 

 of twenty carry a man up to them, provided no insurmountable 

 difficulties, such as rivers, intervened : the hand, without much 

 assistance from the head : would then do the business ; but the 

 difficulty consists in turning to hounds, and riding inside and not 

 outside of them, and thereby cutting off the angles. Whoever 

 considers the proportion of the diameter to the circumference of a 

 circle will be convinced of the great advantage of riding inside of 

 hounds in their turns, and avoiding angles. Hackney-coachmen in 

 London are well awai-e of this. For example, let a man get into one 

 of their coaches, and give Jarvey his direction : if his place of des- 

 tination lies to his right hand, he will observe how immediately he 

 makes his turn down the first street that leads in that direction, and 

 vice versa. — Let us suppose two hackney-coachmen started at the 

 top of the Haymarket, and were ordered to Temple-bar : let one 

 take the first turn to the left, which is Panton-street — cross 

 Leicester-square, along Chandos-street, and get into the Strand 

 down Southampton-street — how much sooner would he be at 

 Temple-bar than the other, should he make the angle of Charing 

 Cross ! This exactly applies to riding to hounds. How often have 

 I seen one set of men riding as hard as their horses could carry them 

 and stopping at nothing, but still losing ground, and being beaten ; 

 when at the same time, others, better judges, were going by the side 

 of hounds quite at their ease, and merely because they have turned 

 with them, and not after them, by which the angles have been 

 avoided. 



There is another point in riding to hounds not sufficiently 

 considered. Every sportsman will know what I mean by the differ- 

 ence between a quick horse and a fast one. Very few countries 

 require fast horses, but all require quick ones ; and a quick man 

 upon a quick horse would beat a slow man upon Eclipse. The speed 



