386 RIDING TO HOUNDS 



of fences as they come. In two instances, I obsei'ved the head con- 

 fined to the saddle by bearing-reins, in the same maimer as a 

 postillion sometimes bears up the horse he rides, to save himself 

 the trouble of holding up his head. One of these gentlemen I had 

 never seen before ; but the other was the well-known Mr. Dickenson, 

 a sportsman of some standing in Surrey, and an occasional performer 

 in Leicestershire. 



Much of the pleasure and safety of the rider depends on the 

 position of the horse's head ; and I have good reason to think that 

 the great importance of the head being at liberty in enabling a horse 

 to struggle out of a scrape, is not sufficiently known or considered 

 of, but it is obvious to any one who wall bestow upon it a few 

 minutes' reflection, or who will watch the motions of the animal in 

 a state of nature. A plank placed in equilibrium cannot rise at one 

 end till it sinks at the other ; neither can a horse get his hinder 

 parts over a very high fence when his head is in the air. If he 

 carries it too low, he is equally unpleasant, but less dangerous. 

 To carry it whei'e it should he must depend on the mould he is 

 cast in. 



What has been said of good writing may be applied to good riding 

 — " it is a tine art, and known only to few " — 



" Thu cliuscu i'uw alune the sport enjoy." 



Did this assertion require proof, it would soon be found, not only 

 on the race-course, but in the field. Look at the small niunbcr of 

 first-rate riders of a race, and the comparatively small list of the 

 rliic when hounds run hard ! " How are you, Bruen ? " said Lindo 

 one morning in my presence, before three hundred sportsmen 

 assembled at a favourite covert in Leicestershire. " Never better ! " 

 replied Bruen : ■■ "a very large field to-day!" — "So much the 

 l)etter ! " said Lindo: " only let 'em go, and it will soon be small 

 enough ! " These words savoured a little of that " saucy passion "" 

 to which Fielding has given a name ; but which generally accom- 

 panies a conscious pre-eminence over other men ; and if ever to 



* Colouel Brucu, M.P. for Carlow, oue of the hardest riders of his day, and 

 one of the leadina: characters ou the Irish turf. 



