50 THE HUNTIXG-FIELD. 



snuffing, and smoking, would make a very gentle- 

 manly amount of expenditure. 



Such a horse as I have mentioned is certainly 

 a very clever hunter, and affords the rider a great 

 treat for the short time he is carried by him; 

 but we cannot call a horse who would shut up if 

 hounds went a few fields beyond what in racing 

 phrase we should term '' his length '' a good 

 hunter, that is, he is not comparatively so; and 

 yet, if a horse can go brilliantly for thirty minutes 

 over a flying country, he muse not be called half 

 a bad one, though he is not one to bear long- 

 continued fatigue. Now, singular as the assertion 

 may at first appear, if I were a man of very large 

 fortune I would never wish to ride what are com- 

 monly held to be good horses, that is, very lasting 

 ones, for such usually take more care of them- 

 selves than I like ; and, personally, I would not 

 ride the best horse in the world twice if I had to 

 be " getting him along," and driving him at every 

 fence he came to. Such are good horses for men 

 who hunt three times a week with a couple ; but 

 for a man who wishes to be carried pleasantly, 

 they are execrable, for it is the difference between 

 being carried like a gentleman for amusement, or 

 like a whip while doing his duty. 



I never could bear riding horses that were not, 

 in stable phrase, a little ^' above their work." 

 Now there are two ways of having them always so. 



