270 HORSES AKD HOUNDS. 



brush, his well-earned tropliy. " That brush," he said, " I shall 

 keep as long as I live, for I have been both huntsman and 

 whipper-in to-day, which perhaps I shall never be again." Out 

 of the whole field not another man made his appearance at the 

 finish. The river threw them out at first, and afterwards they 

 lost the hounds entirely. The day was a very cold one, with a 

 drifting sleet, which froze upon our coats, and my friend's teeth 

 beginning to chatter; I begged him to ride home at once, and 

 take a stiff glass of brandy and water at the first public-house 

 he came to, and give his horse another if he would drink it. 

 " That wont do," he said, " but he will drink beer like a fish, 

 and that he shall have in some warm water." 



In my younger days I cared little about a cold-water bath ; 

 but when arrived at years of discretion, I kept on terra firma as 

 much as possible, leaving to hotter heads to cool themselves in 

 rivers. Brook jumping is all very well, but a souse into a 

 deep and wide stream is not now much to my fancy. Inde- 

 pendent of the consequences — an attack of rheumatism or gout, 

 it spoils the pleasure of the whole day afterwards. 



There is, I think, too little attention paid in the present day to 

 the training of horses for hunting. Irish horses are considered 

 the best jumpers, and will take standing leaps, which our Eng- 

 lish horses would be puzzled to accomplish. They seldom make 

 mistakes at their fences, if pulled up and allowed to take them 

 in their own style. A friend of mine sent me over an Irish 

 horse, which would take most extraordinary standing leaps over 

 gates and walls, and, if going ever so fast, he would always 

 check himself, and take these leaps after his own fashion. Not 

 thinking him up to my weight, he was handed over to the 

 second whipper-in, and treated Jack at first acquaintance to a 

 rattling fall or two. He rode him, as he had done his other 

 horses, pretty fast at a stiff gate, which came in his way the first 

 day. Some of the field, not fancying it, persuaded Jack to try 

 first, calculating upon his knocking it open, or breaking the top 

 bar. The horse, before taking off, stopped quite short, and 

 jerked him out of the saddle over to the other side. Then, 

 raising himself on his hind legs, vaulted over upon Jack, who 

 was lying upon his back. Not being damaged. Jack picked 

 himself up, and grinning at his friends, who were on the wrong 

 side laughing at his fall, said, " Never mind, gentlemen, 'tis a 

 rum way of doing things that horse has, but no matter, we are 

 both on the right side, and that's where you won't be just yet." 

 Jack and the Irishman soon understood each other better, and 

 were for many seasons nearly inseparable companions ; but he 

 would never take his fences except in his own peculiar manner. 



