312 THE HUNTING FIELD 



one. Indeed, we believe, if the catalogue of accidents 

 was canvassed, it would be found that the majority 

 of them have happened at small places. Horses 

 either do not see them or will not give themselves the 

 trouble to clear them. Hence men who hunt in 

 parts of Essex, and other widely-ditched countries, 

 declare that their formidable-looking leaps are the 

 safest — a comfortable theory to those who can bring 

 themselves to believe it. 



Codshead is always " wanting a horse." There are 

 a good many men of this sort in the world, men who 

 are always on the look out, but who never buy. In 

 introducing Captain Shabbyhounde to our readers in 

 a former chapter, we commented upon the " I'll sell 

 you a horse " figure of speech sometimes adopted by 

 young men, or would-be great sportsmen, and knowing 

 ones, and the " Do you know of a horse that will 

 suit me ? " is the corresponding figure of speech for 

 the other end of life — adopted either by desperately 

 cautious men, or men who just ask the question 

 because they think it is fine to ask about a horse, or 

 from want of something to say. It seems an absurd 

 sort of question — for how are we to know what will 

 suit another man. Half the people in this world 

 don't know what will suit themselves. A quick tailor 

 or bootmaker, they say, will measure a man with his 

 eye, and perhaps a horse-dealer may have the same 

 knack at guessing what will suit a customer ; but the 

 generality of people who are bored with the "do you 

 know of a horse that will suit me ? " question have 

 no such ability. To be sure, if one sees a great 

 pudding-headed, snuffy-nosed, wabbling-gutted fellow 

 stumping about, we may say " that man's only fit for 

 a cob, or for water carriage ; " but the bulk of horse- 

 wanters have no particularising mark, no character- 

 istic, or indicating symptoms. It is only in the 

 hunting field that riders can be classed. There one 

 can say, such and such a horse will suit such 



