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78 HUNTING. 



Mr. Hedworth Barclay, who Is one of the finest 

 horsemen in Leicestershire, always rides with great 

 judgment. If he did not, he would not have been 

 safely carried for fourteen seasons by his brilliant 

 hunter Freeman, and for an almost equally long time 

 by Lord Arthur and Franciscan. 



A great deal of ignorant nonsense has been written 

 about people (and even horses!) taking ''their own 

 line," but such scribes ought to go to Leicestershire 

 and show how that can be done ! Ladies who try to 

 follow the teaching of such people, do so at great 

 personal risk ; for it is absurd for a stranger, however 

 well she may ride or be mounted, to think that she can 

 safely take her own line over an unknown country, and 

 especially such a one as Leicestershire, which is in 

 many parts entirely unjumpable. As it requires several 

 seasons to learn the " lie of the land," most people 

 wisely prefer to hunt in a county they know. Some 

 ladles make a great boast of their numerous falls. 

 One recently told me that she had had fourteen 

 croppers In a hunting season ; but when I hear such 

 talk, I cannot help thinking that there is something 

 radically wrong with their riding, for our best horse- 

 women very seldom fall. 



I have noticed that horses have been staked in 

 hunting, through being taken sideways instead of 

 straight, at their fences. It is most dangerous to ride 

 an animal in this manner ; because, if he makes a 

 mistake and falls, he will come down on his side and 

 may roll over on to his rider in his efforts to regain 



