350 The Hunting Countries of England, 



cannot ride anything like straight-to-liounds. Below 

 this comes the lowest section of the marsh — again quite 

 diflferent from the rest. All along the Severn-bank you 

 meet with occasional open drains. But here you see littlo 

 or nothing else. About New Passage absolutely every 

 field is fenced squarely in with four of these " rheens/^ 

 and, without a horse that will face open water, it is 

 useless your venturing into the district. At the same 

 time, the rheens are seldom beyond a horse^s fair 

 powers j and if he is not afraid to jump he need 

 scarcely ever be stopped or put down by them. Here 

 and there a main-drain — cut altogether out of pro- 

 portion to the others — may interpose an impassable 

 difficulty ; though this happens but rarely. To jump 

 the rheens cleverly, and without taking too much out 

 of himself, a horse had better be able to shorten his 

 stride and measure his distance steadily — than be the 

 headstrong rusher that we are apt to class as a water 

 jumper elsewhere. For when the rheens are cleaned 

 out — as is often necessary — the mud is thrown out on 

 either bank, layer after layer, and grass spreads itself 

 over all. Thus the banks are generally found to rise 

 considerably above the surrounding level — calling for 

 caution on the part of a horse in taking off, and giving 

 him every chance of catching his toes on landing. 

 This marsh or rheen -country continues down the river- 

 side by Almondsbury to Bristol — below which there 

 are no hounds for about thirty miles. 



Of course the Berkeley Yale becomes deep and 

 holding in mid- winter, like any other low country 

 of stiff soil. But at the worst it rides no deeper than 

 the Blackmoor Vale^ the Yale of Aylesbury, the Old 



