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confidence in your horse, to turn him so that he can- 

 not kick at hounds when the pack is passing yon . A 

 kick that kills a good hound is very quickly and easily 

 given, and then you have done a terrible thing. I 

 remember once riding home after a good hunt with Tom 

 Bishop, who was then hunting the Grafton. He talked 

 for long of one particular dog-hound - let us call him 

 Bachelor - who that day had done some very fine work 

 down a road. It was easy to see what absolute con- 

 fidence he had in the hound, and pride he took 

 in his stoutness and nose. The very next day the bitch 

 pack was out - for Bachelor ran with the bitches - the 

 poor hound was kicked by a newcomer's horse and killed 

 dead. Our long talk as we rode hone made me realise 

 the tragedy of it. 



It is an absolute obligation on anyone riding young 

 horses to take the greatest care that his youngster is 

 given no chance to kick hounds. In a wood one has to 

 be extra careful : as hoimds come bounding out on to 

 the rides they are apt to frighten a horse, and a fright- 

 ened horse kicks. It is generally easy to tell, from 

 the direction a huntsman is drawing, what rides the 

 hounds will break into, and then to take precautions. 

 If you keep "at" a horse's mouth he will seldo: kick, 

 but if he makes the attempt punish him severely. It 

 is not difficult, as a rule, to cure horses of kicking; 

 but better still, never let them begin. Have dogs 

 about in the stable and take them : I you when you 



■e hacking, and send them to exercise with the horses. 

 Best of all, walk a couple of foxhound puppies: young 

 horses soon get accustomed to hounds then. 



I often think that if people who hunt would always 

 try to be on the look-out to help things on, instead of 

 being so ready to criticise, it would be an exceedingly 

 good change. One gets so weary of criticism that is 

 ignorant, and I have noticed that those who know most 

 ss.j least. There are probably not more than three or 

 four huntsmen with real genius hunting hounds in Great 

 Britain at any given time. Yet certain folk are not 

 content with a good hardworking huntsman, who shows 

 them good sport when there is good scent and he has a 

 fair chance : they grumble away, and seem to think that 

 every pack they choose to hunt with is entitled to a 

 first-class heaven-sent genius. How often, in my 



