200 MODERN PIG-STICKING 



than the knock-out system. Heats have to be 

 run in parties of three, and, in the first round, often 

 four ; neither time nor the supply of pig admit of 

 running the Cup in heats of two. To win four heats 

 on the same horse will land a man winner of the 

 Cup. 



Consider now the luck of it all : a turn of the 

 wrist, a jink favouring one more than another, an 

 unrideable jink, a hog that squats at full speed in 

 a bush, heavy patches of cover, a fall, a dropped 

 spear, failure to show blood ; remember that any 

 one of these things may happen to you or your 

 opponents, multiply by four for the four heats, and, 

 if you win, thank the gods in whose lap you have 

 lain. 



Still, all honour to the man who wins. No luck 

 alone will take him right through unless he is a real 

 good man, and unless he takes his opportunities. 

 Luck never forgives missed opportunities, she does 

 not always offer them. 



You must gallop ; I do not say show up in every 

 hunt. You can only do that if your horse is fast 

 enough. I have only once known a man win who 

 did not gallop " all out " consistently. It is good 

 that this is so, for one is sometimes tempted to 

 imitate a man who rides cunning. 



I have purposely avoided names in this chapter. 

 One or two wins stand out conspicuously as owing 

 less to luck than others, where the winner has 

 indeed experienced but little more good fortune 

 than such as may befall a brilliant performer in a 

 successful hunt. 



As in all pig-sticking, the horse counts enormously. 

 A good horse is rarer and dearer than a good wife. 

 But for the pig-sticking and the racing there would 



