Charles Gillson. 



66 FOX-HUNTING FROM SHIRE TO SHIRE 



nearly all grass, certain parts of it are cramped, and 

 when hounds run across the smaU inclosures a 

 huntsman and first whipper-in have to be very 

 quick to see which way the pack turn. In a nice 



morning hunt of last 

 season, it was said the 

 huntsman's horse jumped 

 fifty - three fences, the 

 going being sticky. 

 ^yy My mount for the 

 ^y* morning's hunt was Tom- 

 boy, a sensible, short- 

 tailed brown horse, one 

 of the master's favourites 

 who figured in King 

 Edward VII. 's Corona- 

 tion procession as the 

 mount of a Staffordshire yeoman. At opening 

 gates he was all there, and I learnt afterwards 

 was " undefeated " in the game of push-ball. 



The hunt servants are well mounted, the strength 

 of Mr Hardy's hunting stud being about sixty 

 horses, half of which stand at the kennels, and the 

 others at the recently built block of stabling by 

 Foston Hall. 



These latter stables of the master are a hand- 

 some block, a fine piece of carving over the central 

 archway combining Mr Hardy's coat of arms, 

 together with a running fox and hounds, from 

 the design of the eminent sculptor Captain Adrain 

 Jones. 



A strong litter of cubs in the extensive coverts, 

 kept hounds busily engaged for several hours, and 

 we rode the undulating grass of Rangemore Park, 

 where King Edward, when the guest of the late 

 Lord Burton, enjoyed excellent covert shooting. 



