HOG- HUNTING 1 6 1 



pig. Buy horses as good as possible ; you 

 have to sell them when you leave, and there 

 is far less loss on good horses than bad ones. 

 Indeed, in India as in England for good horses 

 there is always a market. As to the number 

 of horses, that must be limited by your purse, 

 and the quantity of sport you hope to get. 

 One thing, however, must be borne in mind, 

 that a horse is little good to you anywhere if 

 you cannot ride him comfortably. At pig- 

 sticking he is no good at all. Granted that a 

 horse has the power to carry you and boldness 

 to go right up to a pig, or to meet a charging 

 boar, it is absolutely necessary, if you hope to 

 enjoy yourself, that he should be (to you) 

 pleasant to ride. Though Arabs may fulfil 

 your requirements most easily on this point, 

 they are the most expensive, and you must not 

 forget the risks of injury which are so consider- 

 able between bad ground, fierce pigs, and one's 

 own awkwardness, that you will on the whole 

 congratulate yourself, not unnaturally, if at the 

 end of the season you have three out of your 

 four horses uninjured. I have, indeed, known 

 a man start on three months' leave for pig- 

 sticking with five horses and two ponies, and 

 come back at the end of three weeks because 

 he had nothing to ride. True he was a very 

 reckless and a very indifferent horseman. 



12 



