The Riifforcl 463 



'of the country ; and deep strong- woodlands figure 

 largely amid tlie Clays. 



The latter district, again, apart from its covert, is a 

 totally different sort of country. The light soil of the 

 Forest and Derbyshire side is replaced by a stiff 

 holding clay of the most absolute type — cloggy, sticky 

 and tenacious as wax. And yet field is separated from 

 field by strong stake-and-bound fences that must be 

 jumped, and with ditches that are only too ready to 

 take in exhausted horseflesh. When the ground is at 

 its wettest and deepest hounds can run best ; and only 

 a light man on a very high-class horse can hope to live 

 with them then. Mr. Percy Williams, the most 

 successful huntsman and horseman in the history of the 

 Rufford, could skim like a swallow over the Clays. 

 But then he was comparatively a feather in the scales, 

 and rode horses that would have carried a welter 

 weight over Leicestershire. He hunted the Rufford 

 for fully twenty years, showing great sport. As a 

 rider he had few superiors ; and as a quick clever 

 huntsman he could overcome many difficulties. He 

 gave up the country about a dozen years ago ; since 

 which it has been in various hands, and Mr. Algernon 

 Legard has now been succeeded by Mr. Harvey 

 Bayly. 



It will be seen that two distinct classes of horse are 

 required to hunt with the Rufford. For the Forest 

 side the best conveyance is a thoroughbred that can 

 gallop the rides and jump a small fence outside; while 

 for the Clays you must have a powerful horse that can 

 go through the deepest dirt and jump a strong fence 

 out of it. The one side entails easy work upon horses ; 



