160 ON HUNTING. 



A rushing horse is generally a dangerous fencer; but 

 it is a trick that can only be cured in private lessons, and 

 it is more dangerous to try to make a rusher go slowly 

 than to let him have his own way. 



The great error of young beginners is to select young 

 horses under their weight. 



It was the saying of a Judge of the old school, that all 

 kinds of wine were good, but the best wine of all was 

 " two bottles of port ! " In the same style, one may ven- 

 ture to say that all kinds of hunting are good, but that 

 the best of all is fox-hunting, in a grass scent-holding 

 country, divided into large fields, with fences that may 

 be taken in the stride of a thorough-bred, and coverts 

 that comprise good gorse and open woods — that is, for 

 men of the weight, with the nerve, and with the horses 

 that can shine in such a country. But it is not given 

 to all to have or retain the nerve or to afford a stud of 

 the style of horses required for going across the best 

 l^art of Leicestershire and Northamptonshire. In this 

 world, the way to be happy is to put up with what you 

 can get. The majority of my readers will be obliged 

 to ride with the hounds that happen to live nearest 

 their dwelling; it is only given to the few to be able to 

 choose their hunting country and change their stud when- 

 ever the maggot bites them. After hard brain-work and 

 gray hairs have told on the pulse, or when the opening 

 of the nursery-door has almost shut the stable, a couple 

 of hours or so once a week may be made pleasant and 

 profitable on a thirty-pound hack for the quartogenarian, 

 whom time has not handicapped with weight for age. 

 I can say, from the experience of many years, that as 

 long as you are under twelve stone, you may enjoy very 

 good sport with such packs as the Bramham Moor in 

 Yorkshire, the Brocklesby in Lincolnshire, the Hey- 



