156 



CHAPTER XVII. 



THE HUNTER CONSIDERED — EXPERIENCE OP ' IMPECTJNI0ST7S ' 

 WITH TIPS ON HUNTERS — MILES ON UNILATERAL NAILING — 

 COL. ANSTRUTHER THOMPSON'S EXPERIENCE WITH GUTTA- 

 PERCHA SOLES — NATURAL TRANSPIRATION CONTINUALLY 

 GOING ON IN THE HORSE's FOOT. 



Next to the racer comes the hunter — if, indeed, he 

 may not be considered before him, as a ' general 

 utility ' horse. Mr. Fearnley says of him : — ' There 

 is nothing in the world a horse can do which we do 

 not find the hunter capable of.' This is a character 

 calculated to get him a situation, and accordingly 

 we find him drawing a cab years before the natural 

 decay of his strength, fire, and emulation would unfit 

 him from carrying his master into a good place at the 

 finish. If he went unshod, instead of being at 

 such an early age the mass of diseases he now is, he 

 would, when aged, still be fit for slower work, a long 

 way ahead of the cab-rank. In fact, he might in 

 many instances remain a useful servant in his old 

 stable until extreme old age. 



' Impecuniosus ' hunted in an economical manner. 

 He describes five ' screws ' that he had in his stables 

 just ten years ago, which could hardly have cost 

 collectively the price of one sound horse. They 



