134 THE HUNTING FlEl.l) 



where we see them out. Except for very heavy men, or verj' 

 hard riders on very good days, one horse ought to do all that 

 reasonable riders need require. Gentlemen's horses are not 

 like servants" horses, continuall\- on the go. While the men 

 are trotting and crashing over big places in a cast, gentlemen 

 have nothing to do but turn their horses" heads to the wind, 

 and give them their puff. Servants, in far the greater number 

 of countries, ha\e but one horse a-piece out, and theirs come 

 more regularly and more continuously throughout the season, 

 than the horses of any of the field. The servants, too, must 

 be with their hounds, must go on to the end of the da}-, 

 whereas gentlemen may shut up and go home at any moment 

 they like. 



Roads are now so numerous and accommodating, that a 

 servant with an eye and moderate brains, ought to be able to 

 pilot a second horse, without putting him to anything like 

 work. Some fellows, however, never learn a country. The)- 

 will ride over the same coimtry for years, nav, will do the 

 same circle twice in a day, withciut discovering that they are 

 not going straight. They are like the lady who got into the 

 inner circle of the Regent's Park, and walked for many hours, 

 thinking she was never going to get round. 



Man}- of the second horses that we see in the hunting field, 

 however, are there from the repletion of the stables, and by 

 way of exercise, rather than in expectation of being really 

 wanted. Doubtless it is convenient to have two out ; one ma}- 

 fall lame, lose a shoe, and the man who is provided seldom 

 wants. Here, then, let us recommend Grooms to ride like 

 Grooms, and not like gentlemen, in the hunting field. They 

 have no business in the front rank : neither is it etiquette to 

 pass in mudd}- lanes and roads. This latter hint ma}- be 

 useful to others than servants. 



We do not exactl\- know whence the " Pad Groom " derives 

 his title, nor indeed what, in a " Castle of Indolence,"' would 



