58 UNASKED ADVICE. 



the present day might as well be expected to clean his 

 own leathers as to ride his horse on to covert. Time was, 

 at least so my seniors have informed me, when sportsmen 

 were not too lazy to rise and ride their hunters, at a leisurely 

 pace, on to the meet ; and the performance was the 

 more meritorious as the hour of fixture was considerably 

 earlier in days of yore than it at present is. Also, the 

 steed had his heavy winter coat on, a circumstance that 

 must have increased the responsibility of the undertak- 

 ing Nous avons change tout cela. Young and old, 

 feather and welter, customer and shirker, all agree in 

 the impossibility of hunting a horse that has not been 

 conducted to the place of meeting in the orthodox manner 

 by a groom. The master has to go to the same spot as 

 best he can. A brougham is a luxurious conveyance to 

 covert, especially on a wet morning; a phaeton, with a 

 clever pair, an exhilarating one ; a coach, with a merry 

 party perched thereupon, a sufficiently cheery one ; but 

 according to my own taste all these ways and means of 

 encompassing the desired end fall short in amount of 

 enjoyment compared with the journey on a really nice 

 hack. He must, however, be the real thing, or there is 

 no fun at all in this mode of transit. To labour through 

 deep lanes mounted upon an undersized pony is trying to 

 the temper, even as it is to the appearance of the boots 

 and breeches. To hammer along a hard road upon a 

 coach horse is a comfortless, if not an alarming, mode 

 of progression. The covert hack is neither of these 

 extremes. Fourteen hands to fourteen three should be 

 his height, with power suited to the weight of his master. 

 He cannot by any possibility be too well bred, but he 

 need not study appearances like the park hack pure and 

 simple. He must have good temper and good paces. 



