62 The Hunting Countries of England. 



there are few subscription-packs to which the visitors 

 do not readily contribute their full share ; and their 

 presence, therefore, is more often a boon than a draw- 

 back. Besides, the fences of Sussex are seldom of a 

 kind to suffer much injury under the passage of a field 

 of horsemen. They are more often a ragged growth on 

 a bank; and are scarcely disturbed by a horse 

 jumping on and off them, or picking his way over, 

 one foot after another. Where all the country is 

 under the plough, there is little need for strong 

 fencing ; but wherever it is found necessary to 

 strengthen the hedges, it is usually done by means 

 of strong wattle. A flighty horse is out of place any- 

 where in Sussex. With the C. & H. if it is not 

 always needful to look before you leap, it is certainly 

 necessary to look while you are doing so : and there 

 is no country where a horse learns more fully to take 

 care of himself. If at all rash, he is sure to tumble 

 about ; and as self-preservaton is the first instinct of 

 the noble animal, the chances are he soon steadies 

 down and earns himself a character for cleverness. 

 Besides being clever he must be stout; for most of 

 the C. & H. country (except the Downs) is a stiff 

 deep clay, and the rides in the Forest are holding and 

 tiring. 



Roughly speaking, the Forest is situated to the 

 north-east of the kennels (or chiefly to the east of 

 Horsham), and is a tract of large disconnected woods, 

 with a certain amount of open country in between 

 them. Many of these woods have of late years been 

 let to Londoners for shooting purposes : and so it 

 often happens that master and keeper are alike 



