The Craven. 137 



Altogetter tlie pack last season numbered sixty 

 couple ; and, with a quantity of puppies beyond the 

 average out at walk, there is little doubt that it will 

 rise rather than descend in the scale. The men are 

 mounted not only suitably for the country, but with a 

 liberality and judgment that would meet requirements 

 much higher than likely to be exacted here. 



Speaking generally, little is demanded of a horse in 

 the Craven country beyond that he should be able to 

 gallop on the level, and scramble over a rotten bank. 

 On the downs he will have nothing at all to jump 

 (with the rare exception of a small stake and bound) 

 but will often have to extend himself for a bursting 

 gallop. In the middle country the fences are no more 

 tended and kept intact than amid the half enclosed 

 ploughs of The Vine, Tedworth or H. H. In the vale 

 he will have to encounter small banks, which probably 

 crumble away as he is climbing over — leading often to 

 his suspension midway or to a harmless roll on the 

 other side. An evil phase of fence-making has, how- 

 ever, come much into vogue of recent years in the 

 Craven country — to wit, wire, in its worst form. It is 

 not even set up broadly and ostentatiously with a line 

 of posts, as in the Shires : but is twined through the 

 tops of thorns — turning the almost contemptible little 

 hedge into a cruel and dangerous trap. Of course 

 wire has not yet become by any means general ; but 

 it is already too frequent to be pleasant — and a 

 country that of itself is by no means a horseman's 

 paradise, is thus endowed with a most untempting 

 characteristic. 



If we must allude to another drawback, it is one 



