96 THE HUNTER. 



fences, when high, appearing higher to the rider 

 than when he is mounted on a taller horse. 



Temper and mouth are essential points in a hun- 

 ter. The former adds much to his value, not only 

 as it contributes to the pleasure and safety of his 

 rider, but a horse of a placid temper saves himself 

 much in a long day^s work with hounds, and espe- 

 cially when there is much leaping. Indeed, fretful 

 horses are proverbially soft, and not generally to 

 be depended upon at a pinch, which caused Shak- 

 speare to make them the symbol of false friends. 

 Thus Julius Csesar exclaims, 



" Hollow men, lilie horses, hot at hand, 



Make gallant show, and promise of their mettle ; 

 But when they should endure the bloody spur, 

 They fall their crest, and, like deceitful jades, 

 Sink in the trial." 



A hunter should have courage, but nothing more, 

 to make him what he is required to be, namely, not 

 afraid to leap at any fence his rider thinks proper 

 to put him at. His mouth will depend upon two 

 things ; first, upon the judgment of the person who 

 breaks him in, in his colthood ; and, secondly, upon 

 the position of his hinder legs, but chiefly upon the 

 first. It ought to be endowed with so great sensi- 

 bility, that the slightest motion of the bit should 

 give him warning, and direct his course, which is 

 significantly implied by Horace, when he said, " the 

 ear of a horse lies in his bridle.'"* It is true, that 

 what we call the " mouth*" of a horse, is an artifi- 

 cial feature, at all events, a figurative term for his 



