200 GOOD SPORT 



huntsman cannot perfect himself in the science of 

 hunting if he only knows the grass countries. In 

 the Essex Union there is some grass, but more 

 plough, and much stiff woodlands. It is a country 

 to learn in, but not one to break a huntsman's 

 heart, for it is as a rule a good scenting plough. 

 But if Thatcher learned from the Essex Union he 

 also taught, for we have heard on good authority 

 that he fairly revolutionised the style of riding in 

 that country. The Essex Union became by force 

 of example and emulation a flying country. Taken 

 in this way it is probably safer, as it certainly is 

 more enjoyable, to ride over. In his thirtieth year, 

 the very prime of a man's hunting life, when he is 

 not so young as to be likely to throw away his 

 chances by rashness, nor so old that they have come 

 too late, he found himself huntsman to the Cottes- 

 more." 



Then the writer, after seeing good sport with the 

 Cottesmore and Arthur Thatcher, concludes : " The 

 fame of the huntsman will no doubt draw crowds 

 to the Cottesmore, but the wide pastures, the stiff 

 fences, the steep hills, as well as the absolute 

 necessity for a good horse and a stout heart, will 

 probably, after all, reduce the crowds automatically 

 within manageable compass. If we had a word of 

 advice to offer, it would be that while a whipper-in, 

 like a subaltern, should never think of danger, a 

 huntsman, like a general, owes it as a duty to his 

 followers to be gallant, but not rash." 



Mr. Evan Hanbury mounted Arthur Thatcher in 

 splendid style, on thoroughbred horses that had 

 taken to jumping, as many as three a day being at 

 his disposal on the Leicestershire side. Reviving 

 memories of the horses he rode, Thatcher said : " I 

 went two whole seasons without a single fall, and 



