eiding/ 223 



a horse to carry him pleasantly, has only to go to 

 Anderson's, and there he will be sure to find him. 

 All the horses have been ridden by Rice ; he knows 

 what a gentleman expects in a horse ; rides them like 

 a gentleman himself, and does so till they are per- 

 fect, or as near perfection as fine hands can make 

 them. 



Finally, hands are of the utmost importance to the 

 horse himself, particularly in hunting, wanting them, 

 beats many a good horse before his time. Permitting 

 a horse, in technical phrase, to ** make a spread eagle 

 of himself," and go sprawhng along over a deep fallow, 

 '* sews him up " at once. It is quite a fallacious idea 

 to suppose that a horse knows the easiest way of 

 going to himself. He, perhaps, would do so in a 

 state of nature ; but nature is not crossing a hundred- 

 acre holding pasture, with twelve (or more) stone 

 weight on his back. 



Huntsmen sometimes have not good hands, par- 

 ticularly in very inclosed countries ; their attention is 

 too much taken up by their hounds, to permit them 

 to attend as much as they otherwise probably would 



