The Essex and the Essex Union. 343 



jumper will never be a comfortable conveyance over 

 the Ruthins — tbe latter being tbe pith of the Essex 

 country and almost entirely free from banks^ which are 

 the chief feature of the Essex Union. Strength and 

 stoutness — especially in the form of jumping power — 

 are required in the Ruthins ; and a horse possessed of 

 these may easily,, unless his temperament is of the 

 hottest, be taught to land on a low bank, guarded on 

 one side only by a moderate ditch. True, this ditch 

 is often blind, and the bank is often half hid in ragged 

 growth. Creeping then becomes a necessary accom- 

 plishment ; and there is no reason against a horse that 

 can jump learning to creep quite as well as a mal- 

 formed animal with neither spirit nor spring — any 

 more than it is out of the question to ask a Leicester- 

 shire horse to walk through a gap. 



The Ruthins form the heart and core of The Essex 

 Hunt, and furnish an arena such as is not given to the 

 other packs of the county. The name is a corruption 

 of Roding, a term that was brought to apply to the 

 whole property of the Earl of Roding. From about 

 Great Canfield to Willingale embraces the best of the 

 Ruthins ; and in this tract a whole string of villages 

 will be found, with the distinctive appellation Roding 

 subjoined to their other name — the most northern 

 being High Roding ; the most southern, Beauchamp 

 Roding. The Ruthins as a descriptive term, and for 

 our purpose, point to a fine flat and open hunting 

 ground, with small fences and wide ditches ; light 

 arable carrying a good scent and fairly easy for horses. 

 The coverts are small ; foxes run well ; and over the 

 low hedges you may see all that hounds are doing. 



