]28 THE HUNTING-FIELD. 



their features, and each requiring quite a distinct 

 kind of horse to suit them. 



We will first go the farthest a-field, and will 

 mention Yorkshire, that is, the Holderness part 

 of it. 



This country requires horses as near thorough- 

 bred as they can be got. Why they should be 

 so is this: it is chiefly a ploughed country, not 

 hilly, but particularly heavy; and as the scent 

 generally is good, though hounds may not fly 

 over it as they do over the grass land of Leices- 

 tershire, the goodness of the scent renders the 

 pace very fast ; and in such a country, so awfully 

 severe on horses, low bred ones cannot live over 

 it; the fences, though not intricate, or varying 

 much in nature, are regular yawners. Of the 

 ditches it may fairly be said that they, as some 

 road-side houses profess to do, afford ample ^^ac- 

 commodation for man and horse.^^ Horses, there- 

 fore, as well as men, require determined courage 

 to face them : with these exhausters, and such a 

 country, nothing but blood can cope. But what 

 constitutes the difficulty of getting horses fit to 

 go there is, blood alone v/ill not do, nor will 

 strength without blood ; in short, if I was asked 

 the precise sort of horses to be looked for, I 

 should say, a very large powerful race-horse who 

 might not have speed enough for the turf. 



Comins; nearer home we will take Leicester- 



