THE HUNTER 65 



At each step the forefoot, when extended, should 

 be placed level on the ground, neither pressing on the 

 heel nor on the toe, and the foot should come down at 

 the full length of the stride and not be drawn back an 

 inch or so, before reaching the ground. The latter is a 

 sign of a horse being "tied up in the shoulder" and 

 consequently unableto extend himself at a gallop or 

 over a wide jump. Horses who "dish" and "paddle" 

 and "wind their feet" when trotting are undesirable 

 as hunters as they are as hacks, and those who brush 

 and interfere are a nuisance as they require constant 

 attention and special shoeing and boots. "Pigeon- 

 toed" horses (those who turn their toes in), although 

 often wanting in speed, usually make excellent hunters, 

 and are less apt to brush or interfere than those who 

 turn their feet out, a formation always to be avoided. 



As the canter and gallop are the hunter's chief gaits 

 it is most important that they should not be labored, 

 hard, or "stilty," but easy and comfortable to sit. 

 The stride should neither be so long as to be un- 

 gainly — a most tiring gait for a woman — nor should 

 it be choppy and short. At the gallop the horse should 

 bend his knees but little, in fact "he should travel low 

 to the ground, as if he had no knees." 



Quality is as essential in the high-class hunter as 

 we have already seen it to be in the high-class hack. 

 Judging by the paintings of old, both hunters and 

 hounds in the times of "Surtees" were stockier and 

 possessed less breeding than our horses and hounds 

 of to-day. But within the last generation or so hounds 

 have become more and more breedy, the pace conse- 

 quently has become faster and faster, and to-day if 

 you want to keep up with hounds in a "flying" coun- 

 try, if you want to be able to catch up to them if you 



