THE HORSE. 177 



latter has made necessary in the composition and circumstances 

 of the English hunter : 



The half-bred horse of the early part of the last century was 

 when highly broken to his work, a delightful animal to ride, in 

 many respects more accomplished as a hunter than the generality 

 of those of the present day. When in his best form he was a truly 

 shaped and powerful animal, possessing prodigious strength, with 

 a fine commanding frame, considerable length of neck, a slight 

 curve in his chest, which was always high and firm, and the head 

 beautifully put on. Possessing these advantages, in addition to 

 very great pains taken with his mouth in the bitting, and an ex- 

 cellent education in the school or at the bar, he was what is termed 

 a complete snaffle-bridle horse, and a standing as well as a flying 

 leaper. Held well in hand — his rider standing up in the stirrups, 

 holding him fast by the head, making the best of, and being able 

 to pick or choose his ground — such a horse would continue a chase 

 of some hours' duration at the pace he was called upon to go, taking 

 his fences well and safely to the last ; and he would frequently 

 command the then large sum of 100 guineas. But all these accom- 

 plishments would never have enabled a horse of this description to 

 carry the modern sportsman^ who rides well up to modern fox- 

 hounds, on a good scenting day, over one of our best hunting 

 countries. His wind would be spent and his strength exhausted 

 before he had gone twenty minutes by the increased pace at which 

 he must be called upon to travel, but to which his breeding would 

 be quite unequal ; and his true symmetry, his perfect fencing, his 

 fine mouth, and all his other points, would prove of very little 

 avail. If ridden close to the hounds, he would be powerless and 

 dangerous before he had gone across half a dozen Leicestershire 

 inclosures. The increased pace of hounds, and that of the 

 horses that follow them, have an intimate connection with each 

 other, if not with the march of intellect. Were not the hounds of 

 our day to go so fast as they do, they would not be able to keep 

 clear of the crowd of riders who are now mounted on horses nearly 

 equal to the racing pace. On the other hand, as the speed of 

 hounds has so much increased, unless their followers ride speedy, 

 and, for the most part, thorough-bred horses, they cannot see out a 

 run of any continuance, if the scent lies well. True it is, that at 

 the present time, every Leicestershire hunter is not thorough-bred ; 

 but what is termed the cocktail, or half-bred horse of this day is a 

 very different animal from that of a hundred years back. In those 



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