RIDING TO HOUNDS 207 



runs which could never have taken place, and 

 the gentleman '' who took the forty feet brook '' 

 was in evidence from cover to cover. I don't 

 think these books have much influence now even 

 on the very young and perhaps it is the hunting 

 man himself who gives a wrong impression. 

 He who understands hunting thoroughly will see 

 good in what to an untrained eye falls somewhat 

 flat. The man who has not any experience of 

 hunting is apt to look upon a hunting ' good 

 thing ' as a racing forty minutes over a grass 

 country and expects something like it to occur 

 with frequency throughout the season. 



But if a man is keen and gets to thoroughly 

 understand hunting he will find that there is 

 much enjoyment to be got out of the ordinary 

 day's sport and that those wonderful scenting 

 days which he has constantly in his mind's eye are 

 few and far between. He will also find as he 

 gains experience that something more than a 

 good scent is required to ensure the run of the 

 season — viz. a good fox, a good line, and a good 

 deal of luck. How often have I heard the 

 words '' I think there was a scent if we had had 

 a little luck 1 " 



The first thing that will strike the novice if 

 he should happen to get into a sharp burst in one 

 of his early days' hunting is how different riding 

 at fences in the hunting field is to what riding at 

 the made-up fences of the school or the home 

 paddock is. First of all there is the pace and the 

 excitement, and then there is the constantly 



