ii8 THE HUNTING FIELD 



— how Jowler unkennelled him — how Towler hit him 

 off at the road, and what a dance he led them over 

 hill and dale, till all the foot people were shaken off, 

 and half the horses sent home sad and tired. These 

 half-and-half hunts had an advantage not apparent 

 at first sight, which bears upon the heading of our 

 paper. By running hare till Christmas sportsmen 

 got their soft horses into condition for the lengthened 

 and more fatiguing fox chases that took place after. 



The condition of hunters was certainly not 

 generally understood, or perhaps attended to, until 

 about twenty years ago, when '*' Nimrod " essayed his 

 letters on the subject. We do not mean to say that 

 large first-rate establishments were ignorant of the 

 subject ; but certainly tired, stopping, and dying 

 horses were much more common before he wrote 

 than they have been since. Indeed, we seldom hear 

 of a horse being killed by sheer riding, unless in the 

 hands of some raw, enterprising beginner, who has 

 omitted no opportunity of taking a gallop whenever 

 he could get one, needful or otherwise — a gallop 

 being a gallop with some, and quite as enjoyable 

 without hounds as with. 



Mr. Beckford, in his " Thoughts upon Hunting," 

 glanced at what " Nimrod " afterwards wrote into a 

 system, namely, losing all the condition gained by the 

 work and the feeding of winter, by turning the horses out 

 to grass in the spring. Mr. Beckford, we imagine, had 

 been of the grazing order ; indeed, for any but a few 

 countries, there is no doubt but the old-fashioned 

 system, with proper management, will always produce 

 condition enough for all legitimate riding to hounds. 

 The heat and flies of summer used to be the great 

 argument against turning out ; but, as summers go, 

 it is very seldom we have much to complain of in 

 that way. Doubtless the house system is the surest 

 and safest way to hard condition, but it is much more 

 expensive than the other, though of course its 



