272 HOESES AND HOUNDS. 



giving your horse tlie chance of taking it as he likes. You may- 

 be pulled clown yourself, but this is far better than foundering 

 your horse or breaking his knees. Upon encountering a steep 

 hill, at the end of a hard run, climbing it on foot relieves your 

 horse and gives him second wind ; a man, for such a feat, should 

 be in good trim, and I consider, to ride well, he should be in as 

 good trained condition as his horse. VvHiilst others have been 

 spurring and driving their horses scarcely out of a walk, I have 

 been beating them on foot, by winding the hill, and at the top 

 being all right again, I generally left them far in the rear. 



Breaking or losing a stirrup, when hounds are running, is a 

 good opportunity of testing the efficacy of a balance seat, and 

 here I think the balancer will be put to his shifts to keep in his 

 saddle. To ride without stirrups six or seven miles, over a stiff 

 country, is not quite so easy an affair as some men may think. 

 Just for a frolic, let them try the experiment. I should like to 

 witness a steeple-chase of this sort, although I never did, and 

 never will countenance steeple- chases generally. In this case I 

 think the horses would have the best of it. Few would be able to 

 accomplish the feat performed once by Mr. Osbaldestone, of riding 

 without a saddle on his horse's bare back to the end of a run. 



Ha\dng stated my dislike to steeple-chases, I may add my 

 reasons for it ; and first, I may ask, for what other purpose is a 

 steeple-chase horse fitted ? Certainly it spoils his temper for a 

 hunter, and renders him restless and fidgety in company. The 

 steeple-chase horse is an animal sui generis, which the restless, 

 ever-betting, miscalled sportsmen of the present day have called 

 into existence, to pander to their insatiable taste for book specu- 

 lation, whilst legitimate racing is in abeyance. Racing can be 

 defended only upon one ground, that it tends to keep up, and, in 

 fact, does keep up in this country, a breed of horses superior to 

 every other in the wide world, for both size, symmetry, speed, 

 and . lasting qualities. Upon this ground racing may be 

 defended, and ought to be supported ; but steeple-chasing 

 answers no such purpose, and I think decidedly it should come 

 under Mr. Martin's Act, and be punished as all wanton cruelty 

 to animals deserves to be. 



Next in order to steeple-chasing, and twin sister to it, stands 

 calf-hunting, or, as it is pompously designated at the liead^ of 

 hunting appointments, "Stag-Hunting." Now, stag-hunting 

 formerly was a noble sport, and patronised by roj^alty. It bears 

 as much affinity to the calf-hunting of the present time as 

 hunting wild foxes does to turning down bagmen. To rouse a 

 wild deer from his lair of heather on the mountain top, view him 

 as he stands erect, his wide-spread antlers flashing in the 



