170 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 



CHAPTER XXI. 



Second horseman — Few good riders to hounds — The first start — 

 Different modes of ci'ossing country — Genuine sportsmen — Seats 

 in the saddle — Good riders and hard riders — The worst kind 

 of fall — Anecdote of Jack Stevens— Riding down hill — Truth of 

 the old triplet — How to take fences — " Experto crede " — Irish 

 hunters — Jack and his Kilkenny friend — Going at water — The 

 late Lord Kintore — Untrodden ground the safest — The horse and 

 his rider — Must part company sometimes. 



The introduction of second horseman into the 

 hunting- field originated, we believe, with the late 

 Lord Sefton, who succeeded Mr. Meynell in the 

 Quorn country, and for men of heavy weight the 

 practice is not only defensible, but commendable, 

 as affording great relief to their horses, A good 

 second horseman, however, is as rare as a first-class 

 whipper-in, for, like him, he must possess with 

 other qualifications a knowledge of country, and 

 the general line of foxes, which are necessary to 

 enable him to nick in, as it is called, at the proper 

 time with a fresh horse, when his master is in. 

 difliculties with a beaten one. There is an art in 

 doing this effectually not to be attained by a lad 

 just out of a racing-stable, or a common groom. 

 He will also have to ride the run throughout, 

 sometimes in the wake of his master, and ready to 

 assist him when called for. The difference be- 

 tween heavy and light weights is not so great as 



