The Park Hack. 235 



as regards his rider and other horses, will command a fabulous price in spite of the defects 

 above described. 



When a great man, celebrated for his park hacks, departs this country, or this world, there 

 will be nearly as many competitors for them as for his pedigree pictures, his old Dresden dinner 

 service, or his own-imported cigars. 



Manners arc, above all, important — indeed essential — for a first-class park hack. He must 

 conduct himself like a gentleman,* not only to his rider but to other horses — a degree of 

 liveliness (not to put too fine a point upon it) that may be all very well in a deer park, is quite 

 out of place in Hyde Park. Good manners are founded on a naturally good disposition, 

 cultivated by a professor of the art of horsemanship, one who has taken at least a " double first," 

 with a perfect seat, fine hands, and impassive temper ; this education maintained by constant 

 practice. A heavy-handed, ill-tempered, or idle, careless groom, will soon spoil the mouth and 

 manners of the finest hack ; therefore, once found, no pains should be spared to keep this 

 instrument of pleasure in the finest tune. For, as I venture to repeat from a sketch written 

 many years ago, " The army of pleasure-seekers who work in England hard at amusement — 

 the gatherers and distributors of wealth — find in a perfect park hack a luxury, a rest, a healthy 

 excitement, a pleasant fatigue, a medium for grave or serious converse, for light lively gossip, 

 for making love, for making friends, for patching up quarrels, for selling bargains, or arranging 

 political combinations, which the old-fashioned squire, the provincial manufacturer, and the 

 man who never rides but looks on horses as mere machines for betting on, cannot understand, 

 and therefore despise. Character as well as manners are indispensable in the park hack. A 

 hunter may have a plain head and a rat tail, may be a stumbling slug on the road, or a hard 

 puller in the field, but if he fence brilliantly, can gallop, and live through a first-class run 

 in a first-class country, he will command a long price, because all minor faults are forgiven in 

 consideration of his perfection in his trade." 



The hack of every man or woman who aspires to fashionable distinction, or who from any 

 cause has become a public character, should be handsome, if ridden by the young ; and have 

 "character" if the rider be neither young nor of a good horseback figure. 



The horse should be as suitable to the rider as his clothes. The pink cravat that may 

 become a young officer of the Guards in mufti would look absurd on a country banker ; the 

 hack that suits a slim and perfectly-dressed figure may be quite out of character with a horseman 

 whose waist is dumpy and whose legs are short. 



There are horses which, without any pretensions to elegance, have a well-proportioned compact- 

 ness and a regular perfection of action suitable to middle-aged riders of serious pursuits. 



Under ordinary circumstances a town hack should not exceed 15 hands in height, because 

 horses of that size are the most handy and safe in turning corners and walking over slippery 

 pavement. Indeed, it may be laid down as a rule that every inch after about 15 hands adds 

 in geometrical proportion to the difficulty of getting a perfect horse. But tall men of position 

 require tall horses ; a man of six feet wants a horse 16 hands high to look well when mounted. 



Before the year 1873 I should have said that a park hack might be of any height from \\\ 

 hands to 16 hands, but the game of polo brought ponies into fashion. Formerly, a number 



* " The late Duke of N mentioned, as an instance of the ill-luck that had pursued him through life, that at the grand 



review of the Volunteers Iield by the Queen, he, who was a good horseman, was the only Lord-Lieutenant who was thrown. 

 ' But why,' he was asked, 'did you stick to the bridle, and allow yourself to be dragged about in a ridiculous manner?' 'Because 

 my beautiful horse was such a vicious beast that he would have down at and attacked the horses of the royal suite.' Why, tlien, 

 was \\v. natural question, did he ride such a vicious beast?" [.\ horse without manners. — Ed. J — Uay-vnrus Essays. 



