EIDING AND HUNTING. 121 



should be adopted in riding at the different kinds of obstacles 

 met with in the hunting field ; but, here again, so much depends 

 on the pace hounds are going at, and the position the rider 

 holds in the field, that no fixed rule can be laid down ; so that 

 the pace the hounds are keeping must be the guide. Never 

 jump unnecessary fences ; for instance, if a gate is on your 

 line, and you can open it easily, do so, unless you are on a 

 good timber jumper and the pace is very hot, or unless the 

 fence looks very tempting on one or both sides of the gate. 



When hounds are running it is " every man for himself," 

 and every true and good sportsman tries to be well up with 

 hounds ; for unless he is he loses the chief pleasure of fox- 

 hunting, which is to see the hounds work ; and if in the event 

 of a kill the rider has been well up throughout the run, and is 

 in at the death, he is rewarded by the greatest pleasure a fox- 

 hunter can have. 



A few words of advice about things that ought to be 

 observed after the hunting is over, and the rider has started on 

 his way home, may not be inadmissible. 



For the first few miles the horse should be allowed to walk, 

 and, if the rider is accompanied by a friend, the pace should be 

 accommodated to his, that is, if he is a sensible hunting man ; 

 as nothing is so annoying as to have a companion who goes off 

 at a sharp trot, and nothing does a horse so much harm as 

 unsteady riding on the road. If, after a hard day's hunting, 

 the rider has to push his horse a long distance home, it is 

 advisable to call at a wayside inn that is, if one is on the 

 way and get him a little gruel (all the better if there is a 

 quart of old ale in it), the horse to be put in a bedded- 

 down stall, or box, if possible, while waiting for the gruel. 

 The pace home should, under ordinary circumstances, be about 

 the same as going to the hunt, unless the horse is very tired, 

 when it ought to be slower, and the rider should get off and 

 walk now and then, in order to ease his horse's back. Some 



