8 PRACTICAL HINTS FOR HUNTING NOVICES. 



thoroughly outpaced, whereas by saving one's mount 

 there may be a chance of nicking in when hounds take a 

 favourable turn, or of dropping in for a second some- 

 what slower run later in the day. It is when he is " left " 

 that the youngster — very often without knowing it — is 

 likely to do something which may annoy the farmer. 

 He may leave the gate of a field in which cattle or sheep 

 are grazing open, or he may make a considerable gap in a 

 fence by squeezing his pony through a place which is too 

 big to be jumped. This question of jumping should, 

 however, be in some degree decided before the youngster 

 takes the field. Every boy who wishes to go out hunting 

 wants to jump. That, I think, may be taken for 

 granted, but many boys come out perfectly ignorant 

 as to whether their ponies can jump, promptly ram them 

 at a fence when they see other people jumping, and very 

 often, if it is old and rotten, carry a^vay yards of the 

 obstacle, leaving a gap big enough to drive a coach - 

 and-four through. It is extraordinary what damage 

 can be done to a fence by a pony — sometimes even by 

 a horse^who is keen to get on, and has no idea of 

 refusing, but has not been properly schooled. He will 

 dash right into a fairly big place, and fight his way 

 through, carrying a tangled mass of briars into the next 

 field with him, and when the farmer comes to the gap 

 he will not only be very angry, but will reflect that it will 

 take a man half a morning to repair the damage. Gaps, 

 of course, will always be made in the hunting field, 

 and the boy whose pony is incapable of jumping his 

 fences clean should wait his turn at the one or two 

 gaps which are being gradually made by the rank and 

 file of the field, following each other one by one, but on 



