DRESS 255 



unjumpable gates.* Over here, where one is more 

 apt to jump the gate than to attempt to open it, the 

 use of the crop is confined for a mere follower of the 

 hunt: (1) To hold out at arm's length with the thong 

 hanging down vertically, in order to warn hounds 

 away from a horse's heels; (2) to crackf in aiding the 

 turning of hounds (a practice best left to those who 

 know something about it); (3) to use in saving the 

 pelt of the fox from hounds, should one happen to be 

 alone with them when they kill. 



It will be readily seen that the actual use of the hunt- 

 ing crop in this country is far more limited than in 

 England, and is not a necessity over here, as over there. 

 Nevertheless, I cannot conceive of a well-turned-out 

 person going out hunting without a crop. If for no 

 other reason, it should be carried for the sake of old 

 hunting tradition, and, once used to it, it will be found 

 quite as convenient for touching a horse as any other 

 sort of whip, and no more cumbersome to handle. 



A woman should never make the mistake of select- 

 ing a dainty ladies' crop, but should pick one that is 

 made somewhat as follows: The handle should be of 

 bone, roughened at the end, and with a metal stud. 

 (This is to prevent the crop slipping when pushed 

 against a gate.) The main body of the crop, which 

 should be about nineteen or twenty inches long, must 

 be either of plain malacca or of heavy whalebone, 



* In opening a gate the thong should be wrapped around the hand 

 several times, so that should it be jerked out of the hand it may be 

 easily recovered. 



t In cracking a thong the rider should make the cuts upward and 

 downward on a vertical plane, parallel to the horse's side, and a little 

 away from him so as not to hit him. The art of cracking the thong, 

 like learning to catch a four-in-hand thong, should be practised on 

 foot and never attempted on horseback unless one is sure not to hit 

 him. All hunters should be accustomed to the use of the thong. 



