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I have hunted with fox-hounds in many countries, 

 good, had, and indifferent, but however small or easy 

 they were to cross, I have never been in one of which 

 some local enthusiast did not remark to me: "if a 

 horse can cross this country, he can cross any country". 

 I never presumed to difTer, for I like the local en- 

 thusiast, and have much -.ore respect for him than for 

 the man who only shoots in his own country and dashes 

 off to the shires to hunt, doing little or nothing 

 for his local pack, in some extreme cases failing even 

 to keep a fox in his home covers. Such a man is 

 beneath contempt, and I should enjoy seeing the local 

 enthusiast jump on him. 



In the above remark, however, if you substitute 

 "man" for "horse", you will not be far from the truth. 

 The man who thinks for himself and finds his own way 

 over country when hounds run will go just as well in 

 one country as another. Take a good man from the 

 provinces, put him down in the shires, with the right 

 stamp of horse , and he will take his usual plac . . It 

 may take him a day or two to get used to slipping the 

 crov;d - the crowd who have no wish to go, and who get 

 in the way - but after that, on a fast "big- jumped" 

 horse, as they say in Ireland, he will find it .ost 

 probably rather easier to ride his own line than at 

 home. For the shires are made to be ridden over, so 

 to speak, and on the right type of horse it is easier 

 to get to hounds in those favoured localities than in 

 many provincial countries. 



It would seem very probable in the future that 

 men will more often have to selecb one sport and stick 

 to it. The class of man who hunted, raced, shot and 

 fished, who was able to 5:0 in for all sports, will 

 hardly be so numerous as in the past. 



If a man finds he can only afford one sport, and 

 selects hunting (to me it seems incredible that anyone 

 should not, but that, I know, is being narrow-minded), 

 he can get far more joy and pleasure out of it by really 

 1 trying to understand the noble science. During these 

 (Jl glorious autumn mornings in the big woods with the cubs 

 he can learn so much about fox-hunting. There are 

 usually only a few out, and one c:. ; n often be of use to 

 the officials of the hunt, end it is a good chance to 

 study the hounds in their work and learn to know some of 

 the . Knowing at least a few of the best hounds and 

 watching them in their work always adds to one's pleasure 



