Tunixc; TO tioinds -Mu 



practice. We iilso remembei', that a few years back it was con- 

 sidered stylish to ride the hunter with his head quite loose. It is 

 certainly pleasing to see one so perfect as to be capable of being so 

 ridden ; l)ut I confess it yet remains for me to see a man keep up 

 with hounds for an hour at their best pace with a slack rein. When 

 they are going with a bad scent, it is possible, perhaps, to be done ; 

 l)ut even then, if the horse, as I before observed, could speak, he 

 W'ould ask for a little assistance \Yhere the ground was deep and 

 distressing. 



One of the principal advantages arising from a tine finger on a 

 hunter is in handing him over his fences so as to prevent a greater 

 exertion of his powers than is necessary to get safely over them. 

 To those horses which carry high weights, this style of riding is 

 most beneficial ; and to the practice of it is Mr. Maxse indebted for 

 the front-rank place he has so long held among the Meltonians. 



I well remember the first time that this line effect of superior 

 hand struck me so forcibly, and that was the first time I ever hunted 

 in Leicestershire, when Lord Forester was in his prime. I had 

 seen him out several times in i)rovincial countries on his friends' 

 horses when on a visit at their houses, but I had never seen him 

 in Leicestershire. On the day I allude to we had a sharp burst of 

 about half an hour. Lord Forester (then Mr. Cecil Forester) was 

 mounted on Bernardo; and thinking that I could not fix upon a 

 better pilot, I followed him at a humble distance, but sufiiciently 

 near to him to remark the superiority of his style of riding, and 

 to account for Ids beiiuj able to make liorses lice an hour under his 

 weight, ivhich could not live more than forty minutea under much 

 lighter vien. It arose from his very superior manner of handing 

 them over their fences, and husbanding their powers, by preventing 

 them from leaping higher or further than was absolutely necessary 

 to clear the fences he put them at. The fences we met with were 

 strong ; but so easily did he seem to get over them, that they 

 appeared trifling, until I came to them, when I found them quite 

 large enough to be agreeable. 



It was on this celebrated horse (Bernardo) that Lord Forester 

 leaped a brook, when he was said to have cleared the astonishing 

 space of thirty feet. Not having witnessed the leap, I can only 



