248 THE COMPLETE FOXHUNTER 



cannot exactly blame the horse, because he has seen 

 it do big things for another man ; he will not blame 

 himself, because that would be admitting that his 

 horsemanship was inferior to that of " B." So he makes 

 excuses for the nag, and parts with him as quickly as 

 possible. 



It is an undoubted fact that there are a few men in 

 every large hunt, and an odd one in every small hunt, 

 who can go in front on any and every sort of horse, 

 and can keep them there as long as condition of their 

 horses will allow of it. Not only are such men fine 

 horsemen, but they are gifted with some indescribable 

 knack of getting along. They have falls, of course, 

 but no more than their neighbours when their style of 

 riding is taken into consideration, and what they 

 really excel in is that they are able to make horses 

 gallop and jump in a way which is an impossibility to 

 other men. It is not the honest, willing horse that 

 they are seen to so much advantage on, but the raw, 

 ignorant horse, or very often the animal which is in 

 ordinary hands a shocking bad hunter. 



A rather heavy man once bought a big, fairly good- 

 looking horse which had been working in a road coach, 

 the horse having a previous character to the effect that 

 he was a good hunter. His new owner could not make 

 him jump, and found that he could not gallop fast 

 enough to keep up with what Miss Somerville calls 

 " the flotsam and jetsam of the field." He was on the 

 point of being sent up for sale by auction, when some 

 one suggested that the crack rider of the hunt should 



have a day on him. As it happened Lord 's 



hounds were in their best country on the following 

 day ; the coach horse was sent on, his owner went to 

 see what occurred, and to his surprise the horse which 



