250 HORSEMANSHIP. 



which, particularly after a severe frost, is so far 

 from being firm enough to bear his weight, that it 

 sinks him nearly to the knees. This is very dis- 

 tressing, especially to a horse which carries a heavy 

 man ; and here the skill of the rider is shown in 

 his preventing his jumping at fences of this de- 

 scription, higher or farther than is absolutely neces- 

 sary to clear them. To a man who follows hounds, 

 indeed, this art of handing his horse easily over 

 fences, is one of the very highest value ; and to the 

 possession of it, to perfection, is to be attributed 

 the extraordinary performance we have seen and 

 heard of, of hunters under some of our heaviest 

 sportsmen, such as Mr. Edge and his brother, Mr. 

 Richard Gurney, Mr. Robert Canning, Sir Bel- 

 lingham Graham, Mr. Maxse, Lord Alvanley, and 

 others, in fast runs of an hour or more, over strongly 

 inclosed countries. 



Walls are, we believe, the only fence met with 

 in Great Britain which we have as yet left unno- 

 ticed. They are of two descriptions, namel}^ fast, 

 by means of mortar, and loose, being built without 

 mortar. The first do not often come in the way of 

 the sportsman; and it is well that they do not, 

 for, in the event of a horse striking them, they do 

 not yield to his weight.* The last, the loose walls, 

 particularly those met with in Gloucestershire and 

 Oxfordshire, are the least dangerous fences he can 

 ride at ; for, unless his horse be blown, or he is 

 himself a very powerless horseman, they seldom 



^' Two years back, a fast wall, full six feet in lieight, was cleared by 

 Lord Gardiner, with Sir Richard Sutton's hounds, in Lincolnshire. 



