The Tickham. 245 



woods — wliere_, too, lie requires all tlie dasli that can 

 be bred in a foxhound, if lie is to cope with his game. 

 Again, for the open, he must be ready to put his nose 

 down and willing to keep it there ; while his feet must 

 be perfect to combat the flints, and his frame un- 

 tiring to carry him through the day. In woods of 

 such size, so difficult to ride through, and none too 

 lavishly off for foxes, a single mute hound may rob 

 the whole day of its chances of sport. And, again, 

 the flints of the open ground are so severe, 

 that a hound will seldom really face them for more 

 than three or four seasons, and at all times at least a 

 sixth of the pack are in hospital with cuts. The 

 present Tickham Pack owes its foundation chiefly to 

 hounds purchased when Mr. Musters broke up his 

 Kennel in South Notts. Since then the present 

 Master, Mr. W. E. Rigden, whose father had the 

 country for some forty years, has made every effort to 

 establish a high and uniform standard — by infusions 

 of blood from the Fitzwilliam and other leading 

 Kennels — with the result that he now possesses an 

 excellent pack. And that hounds should be of good 

 class in a rough and difficult country as much as in a 

 more fashionable one is self-evident — for the greater 

 the difficulties to contend with the more need for good 

 qualities on their part — added to which, the foxes of a 

 wild country are invariably stronger than those 

 matured in a more artificial sphere. Mr. Rigden 

 has lately built beautiful Kennels at Wren^s Hill, 

 near Newnham ; which in themselves are worth a 

 visit. 



The horse to ride with the Tickham should be 



