46 



THE HUNTING-FIELD. 



before lie gets a stud lie should learn to ride. 

 But riding a hack on the road will not teach a 

 man to ride a hunter across country_, though it is 

 the A B C to his doing so. Hence, to have the 

 stud, or, at all events, a horse or two of such de- 

 scription as we infer the stud to be composed of, 

 is desirable, and even necessary, to the learning 

 to ride them. Purchasing one hunter will cer- 

 tainly teach a man to ride him, and greatly assist 

 him in riding others. It would be proper enough 

 to put a pupil on a thoroughly made, safe, and 

 pleasant hunter: but if he confined his practice 

 to riding such a horse, he would never be able to 

 make the most of any other sort ; and if a man 

 aspires to become quite a workman, he must learn 

 to be able to ride in any country, and any sort of 

 horse fit for a gentleman to mount as a hunter; 

 to do this he should ride in different countries and 

 a variety of horses. 



Assuming, therefore, that as it is desirable to 

 have a fine instrument in order to practise fine 

 music, and that it is also desirable to have a horse 

 with hunting qualifications to enable the rider to 

 practice hunting riding, we will turn our atten- 

 tion to the consideration of what is necessary in 

 point of qualifications to constitute a hunter. 



At the present day, there is no horse in exist- 

 ence requiring such a combination of good qualities 

 as the hunter. There was a time when the best 



