RIDING A PIG 61 



5. Line to Take. — If you do not go over exactly 

 the same ground that a pig does you are bound to 

 lose ground, and you will often come to grief. You, 

 of course, see nothing of the country, but your horse 

 does ; and the hog ahead is a valuable pilot to him, 

 telling him where to put in a fifth leg, and where 

 to shorten his stride. There is no difficulty in 

 riding hard on a hog's line ; the trouble is in riding 

 a parallel line, or a stern chase. 



6. Casting Forward, — If you lose a boar always 

 cast for'ard. Find the first piece of open country 

 you can, get there quietly, hide, wait, and watch. 

 You will not be always right, but you will be more 

 often than by any other method. The way a pig 

 squats in thick cover and then sneaks out on again 

 unseen is extraordinary. His pursuers meanwhile 

 continue to guard vainly the spot where he once was 

 but is no longer. A hog always knows his own mind ; 

 if he started meaning to go to certain cover to that 

 cover he will go, sooner or later. 



This " casting for'ard " is one of the most 

 important things in pig-sticking, and one of the 

 least understood even by men who, in many cases, 

 are not novices. 



I will give you a couple of instances of it. 



X and Z were watching a heat nearly a mile 

 away riding a pig in long grass. After a while it 

 became obvious from their actions that the heat 

 had lost the pig. The general direction of the run 

 had been from left to right across the front of X 

 and Z. These two watched the heat for a minute 

 as they continued to wander about aimlessly looking 

 for their pig in the vicinity of where they had lost 

 him. X and Z then did what the heat ought to 

 have done in the first instance, and galloped as hard 



