HACKS AND HUNTERS. 213 



were among the very first sold, some of them to extremely 

 diminutive purchasers. I was speaking about this a year 

 or two ago to a dealer, and asking him his opinion re- 

 specting the cause, when he made me laugh by answering, 

 " Well, you see, big horses makes big fences look a trifle 

 smaller, and that's something to them as rides." 



I have always considered it a good plan to select a 

 hunter, with due regard to the country in which his purchaser 

 intends to hunt. For example, if hilly, or composed of 

 wide grass lands, or plough, good breeding will be decidedly 

 essential, because with it good staying powers will be com- 

 bined ; if trappy, or difficult, requiring constant pulling up 

 at fences and careful getting over, extreme cleverness 

 will be far more valuable than blood. Even a broken- 

 winded horse will, if cautious and clever, be more useful 

 over such a country, than a flyer or very flippant jumper — 

 because he can catch his wind between his efforts, and will 

 not be likely to exhibit distress. 



If you cannot count upon a horse's pedigree, when 

 looking for a blood one, you can generally judge him by 

 his haunch. I think it an excellent test of breeding. A 

 well-bred haunch and handsomely carried tail, impart a 

 dignity of appearance which is unmistakable, and they are 

 certainly far in advance of the rounded quarter and droop- 

 ing caudal appendage which my sketch on the succeeding 

 page represent. 



Still further commendable points in a hunter are long 

 shoulders, high withers, broad hips, and loose flanks : this 

 latter in order (as I have heard it expressed) that he may 



