246 HORSEMANSHIP. 



SO sharp as frequently to sever the sinews of a 

 horse's leg so completely as to cause his toe to turn 

 upwards, when his throat must be cut on the spot ; 

 over grips covered by weeds, and thus, if visible to 

 the horseman, too often invisible to his horse ; over 

 deep under-drains, with rotten coverings, which 

 frequently give way, and let in a horse nearly to 

 his shoulders ; down steep hills, stony lanes, through 

 deep sloughs and treacherous bogs ; and all this 

 very frequently on infirm legs, as those of hunters 

 which have been long in work are very apt to be. 



Next come the " fences," as all obstacles to the 

 follower of hounds are now technically termed ; 

 and let us just see of what they are composed. 

 There is the new and stiff gate, with always five, 

 and sometimes six bars, and each bar, perhaps, as 

 firm asrainst the force or weiofht of a horse and his 

 rider as if it were made of wrought iron. Then 

 there is the nobleman or gentleman's park-paling, 

 full six feet high, and too often a turnpike road on 

 the other side to alight on. The stiff four-barred 

 stile, generally to be taken from a narrow and slip- 

 pery foot-path, and not unfrequently on the de- 

 clivity of a hill. The double post and rail fence, as 

 it is called, too much to be cleared at one leap, in 

 which case the horse has to leap the second rails 

 from the top of a narrow bank, and sometimes from 

 out of a ditch which is cut between them. Every 

 now and then, in the rich grazing countries, which 

 are far the best for hunting, and in which hounds 

 run faster than in others, there is the ox-fence, 

 which may thus be described : If taken from one 



