22 THE MASTER OF HOUNDS 



very little value upon their own lives. However, 

 perhaps the givers of the cycles have insured the lives 

 of the ladies. At the beginning of 1902 I was asked to 

 suggest to Field-Marshal Lord Roberts that the War 

 Office should encourage cross-country riding in the 

 Army through the medium of the hunting-field. I 

 complied with the request, and on February 11 received 

 a letter from Lieutenant-Colonel H. Streatfeild, private 

 secretary to Lord Roberts, thanking me for my sug- 

 gestions and informing me that the Commander-in- 

 Chief was considering them. My suggestions were not 

 original, but were founded upon news which I had 

 received from Germany and Russia relating to the 

 methods by which German and Russian soldiers are 

 taught to ride, not in the riding-schools but in the 

 hunting-field. The German methods of teaching 

 military horsemanship have been, or should have been, 

 known to us for many years. Thus, the Parforce 

 Jagd, or Royal Prussian Boarhounds, of which pack 

 Count Hoheman is the Master, is mainly supported by 

 officers, inasmuch as it enables the young officers in 

 the German Army to get rid of that stiffness of seat, 

 which results from exercise in the stilted style of the 

 military riding-schools. Moreover, the officers are 

 given facilities and special leave, so that they may ride 

 in the races open to gentlemen riders. But these 

 German methods of training young officers in the 

 science of cross-country riding for military purposes 

 have been no secret since the accession of the present 

 Kaiser to the Imperial Throne. The Russian methods, 

 however, came as a surprise. 



