The Radnorshire and West Hereford. 405 



It should be mentioned that in the Pembridge Vale a 

 very useful covert has long been lent by the North Here- 

 ibrd Hunt, viz., Heath Wood, from which many capital 

 runs have dated. Other good coverts in the vale are 

 Sarnesfield Wood (Major Worswick^s), and Moorhouse 

 Coppice. The latter is a large and strong wood 

 close under Lady-Lift, is the property of Mr. Peploe ; 

 and is the most easterly meet of the Hunt. 



This Pembridge vale is as pretty riding ground as 

 is to be found in the county of Hereford. A good 

 deal of it is grass; and the fences are everywhere 

 practicable to a clever horse. In some parts, where 

 the clay is stiff and the soil rich enough to feed the 

 grand red bullocks, the hedges grow wide and ragged 

 and the ditches are dug exceptionally deep. The 

 deeper the ditch the higher the bank upon which the 

 thorns are planted ; and so — though the banks are in 

 themselves insignificant as compared with those of 

 Ireland or Somerset — there are many fences in the vale 

 that few, if any, horses could take in their stride. One 

 educated to the county will, especially if the ditch be 

 towards him, pitch on the bank among the thorn or 

 hazel, and make his way out with a second spring — 

 dropping only his hindlegs if going fast, or poising to 

 extricate himself where exigency demands and time 

 allows. The fences are very seldom cut-and-laid ; so 

 there are no binders to entangle him, though the 

 gaps are mended with wattle as strong and unyielding 

 as any timber. Elsewhere the ditches are of very 

 trifling dimensions; but it nearly always happens 

 that a Herefordshire fence has a different level of 

 ground on either side of it. The horse that under- 



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