THE HUNTER. 15 



gate, his heel touched the horse's side ; the obedient hunter, mistaking- it for a 

 signal to take the gate, made his leap whilst it was swinging, and his hinder legs 

 being entangled, he came down upon his unfortunate master's body, and crushed 

 him instantly to death ! It was full an hour before any witness arrived ; and the 

 noble and generous horse was standing close by his dead master, as if sensible of 

 and lamenting his fate ! 



We must indulge in yet one more example, which appertains to the gallant 

 subject of leaping. Some gentlemen, in the present season, being shooting in 

 Cambridgeshire, on the estate of Lord Francis Godolphin Osborne, the noble and 

 liberal successor of the proprietor of the famous Godolphin Arabian, they accident- 

 ally put up a herd of cows, which in great fright took full speed, the course 

 which led to a five-barred gate^ when, to the astonishment of the sportsmen, the 

 foremost cow of the hunt leaped and cleared the gate as neatly as the staunchest 

 hunter. An old and experienced writer describes the cow as the best, if not the 

 highest of standing leapers, and advises grooms to teach their horses at the bar, 

 to clear their hinder quarters in the leap, like a cow. 



TRAINING the hunter is a simple process, all that is required being to bring 

 him into good wind, without, at the same time, reducing him too low in flesh, 

 or injuring his sinews; since, on a long chace, more especially over a heavy 

 country, a horse needs the aid of his full bodily strength, and of his unimpaired 

 tendinous and muscular powers. It is extremely dangerous to ride a horse 

 over the country, which is weak in his joints, or has the common hurt in his 

 back sinews ; but the danger is tenfold, in taking a flying leap upon such a 

 horse, where the opposite descent is considerable, and the stress upon his lower 

 limbs in his landing, with a heavy weight upon his back, must be excessive. 

 Training must commence with two or three doses of physic, should the horse be 

 gross, and not have been previously trained. A young horse, in his first training, 

 will require most work ; but it is an error of the surest side, rather to under-do 

 this business, than exceed, because, if a horse come into the field rather under- 

 worked, being full of good meat and heart, the easy remedy is to favour and ride 

 him carefully the first week or two -, but should your training groom set you upon 

 a horse harrassed and weakened by too much exercise, he will get worse as the 

 season advances, and perhaps be totally ruined by the end; exclusive of the pro- 

 bable disgrace of failing you in a long a.nd important day. Old hunters from 

 spring grass, which they ever ought to enjoy, can scarcely be trained too lightly ; 

 the true test is, that their wind in its course be free and unembarrassed ; to that 

 point, however, their exercise must at any rate extend. The lighter the horse's 

 clothing the better, in view of the heats and colds he must necessarily undergo 

 in the chase. An early morning's gallop, at a good steady stride, but not speedy, 

 of a mile or two, with a canter after water in the afternoon, is sufficient for 



