4.26 The Book of the House. 



must be remembered that many horses, both hacks and hunters, that are apparently hot and 

 pullers while new and strange to the rider, settle down comfortably after a short mutual 

 experience. But the horse must have a reasonably good mouth, and bridle well. A horse 

 that will be delightful to a young straight rider will be a perfect nuisance to a middle-aged 

 . man who only wants to potter about ; a horse accustomed to go and not allowed to go is 

 sure to pull. Except a kicker, no horse is so dangerous in the hunting-field as one the 

 rider cannot hold ; he is not only capable of rushing at and through impracticable fences, 

 but of killing hounds, knocking over that sacred person, " The Master," and dashing into a 

 gap where a man and horse are scrambling. And when a hard puller overpowers his rider, 

 he is very apt to refuse his fences. 



One of the best hunters I ever rode was most annoyingly fidgety on the way to cover, 

 seeming more fit for a procession in a circus than the hunting field ; but the moment the 

 hounds found, she calmly settled down to business, and took her fences with the most delight- 

 ful alacrity and precision. 



The greatest fault a hunter can have is to refuse his fences — reasonable fences — 

 either with hounds or in cold blood. It is a sure proof that either he is in a bad temper, 

 or has weak legs, or tender fore-feet, or, which is quite as bad, that he has been badly 

 ridden by a timid craning man. 



You sometimes hear people say, " Oh, he is a very good horse with hounds, but he 

 won't jump in cold blood." Then he is not a perfect hunter. Look at the ordinary case 

 of riding to cover alone, with no horse to give you a lead over a fence. You see the 

 hounds hunting slowly along a hill a mile off. You propose cutting oiT a long angle by 

 taking the ditch and hedge out of the road. Your horse declines ; rears, kicks, plunges, 

 tries to bolt down the road, and makes you not only look like a fool, but perhaps lose 

 "the run of the season." 



For pleasant riding no hunters are equal to those broken to hounds by horse-dealing 

 straight-riding farmers. These horses are ridden one or two summers about the farm, 

 taught to stand to be mounted, to help to open a gate, to creep up, down, and through 

 gaps. They are ridden not too hard until thoroughly trained ; and then, as the rider knows 

 every yard in the county, the taking off and landing of every fence, they are ridden straight 

 but coolly and temperately with hounds over timber, stone walls, hedges, double ditches, 

 or whatever comes in the country, and have no idea of refusing until they fall into the 

 hands of some one whose heart fails him at the critical moment. A perfect hunter tries, 

 at any rate, to do any leap his rider really wishes him to take. 



In some counties there are very few ditches ; in others, no water and no stone walls ; 

 in others, doubles are unknown ; while, as before observed, there are hunts where you may 

 ride all day close to the hounds without being obliged to take a fence. A horse sold by 

 auction as a hunter must be sound in wind and eyesight — that is the only warranty in the 

 word hunter; he need not be willing to jump a fence two feet high, although some juries 

 have taken a different view. Of all fences, it is most necessary that a hunter should be 

 willing and able to jump timber accurately and in cold blood. Hedges have gaps, ditches may 

 be scrambled through, stone walls may be pulled down ; but a stile, a new post and rail, 

 or a locked gate, must be negotiated or tumbled over, if you do not consent to be shut 

 out of "the run of the season." Now, tumbling over stiff timber is one of the most 

 dangerous accidents of the hunting field. Every horse that has the propelling power in back, 

 hocks, and thighs, and the courage essential for a hunter, can be taught to jump timbc 



