PREFACE. vii 



thought whether there was a fence to be " negotiated " 

 (that I believe is " Mr. Gent's " expression), or whether 

 he had simply to ride over the open. In all my hours 

 with Carter during a period of nineteen years, and we 

 were much together, he rarely mentioned his horse at 

 all, unless I happened to call his attention to some 

 particular animal which he might have ridden, and 

 then his reply was generally " Oh, yes, 'twere a very 

 good one, and carried me well for two, three, or more 

 seasons," as the case might be, but not one word about 

 " I rode him, or her, over a five-barred gate, or a 

 double flight of posts and rails, or a brook a quarter 

 of a mile wide." 



Having myself been born and bred in the centre 

 of the Tedworth Hunt, and being familiar with 

 every inch of the country, which was " the happy 

 hunting ground " of George Carter for very many 

 years of his life, it struck me that many of the 

 real sportsmen of England might like to read some 

 of the old man's opinions and recollections of sport, 

 together with his experiences of old fashions and 

 new. This book simply professes to be jottings of 

 the old huntsman's fireside talk to myself, from time 



