HUNTING THE FOX 17 



instinct will not make him particularly anxious 

 about the welfare of a bad one. It is wise to buy- 

 as many horses as possible from the farmers. The 

 hunting-farmer is one of the best, if not the best 

 of friends to Fox-hunting, and from every point 

 of view should be encouraged to own and breed 

 good hunters. There is no greater encouragement 

 to him in this direction than the knowledge that 

 he will always have a willing customer in the 

 M.F.H. if he can produce the goods. If this under- 

 standing can be created, the M.F.H. will have the 

 great advantage of having the pick of all the best 

 farmers' horses in the country. He has an oppor- 

 tunity of seeing them because he visits all districts 

 regularly when hunting, and can make it his busi- 

 ness to know all the young horses which the farmers 

 ride. The spectacle of a horse bought from a 

 farmer carrying one of the Staff — or maybe the 

 M.F.H. himself — well to the front, not only advances 

 the national cause of horse-breeding by force of 

 example, but promotes good-will and legitimate 

 pride by giving the late owner of the horse a re- 

 flected, almost a proprietary, interest in the 

 establishment. To quote Egerton Warburton : 



And should his steed with trampHng feet 

 Be urged across your tender wheat, 

 That steed, perchance, by you was bred, 

 And yours the corn on which he's fed. 



If it is well for the M.F.H. to take a general 



c 



