178 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 



are no foot-marks ; and, although the quickset may 

 be higher at this point, there is less risk of a mis- 

 adventure. A good rider to hounds has no sooner 

 cleared one fence than his eye is cast forward to see 

 his best way over the next, and, having made up 

 his mind on this point, he will not deviate from 

 his line. At brooks especially, the first horse has 

 always the best chance. In this case it is danger- 

 ous to follow a leader. But of all the disagreeables 

 in a foxchase, peaty water meadows, with a brook 

 in the middle, are the worst to be encountered. As 

 a general rule, the horse and his rider ought to be 

 inseparable ; yet are there exceptional cases, in some 

 of which they must of necessity dissolve partner- 

 ship, and that, too, for mutual benefit and conve- 

 nience. The towing-path under the arch of a canal 

 is one place where a man must dismount at once 

 and lead his horse, unless he chooses to run the risk 

 of having his brains knocked out. The wooden 

 drawbridge over it, with a gate at both ends, and 

 no room to take off, is another. A drop leap into 

 a deep stony lane is better accomplished by leading 

 down than riding down into it; eleven or twelve- 

 stone on your hunter's back being more likely to 

 shatter his fore-legs than to save them ; to say 

 nothing of a cropper to yourself, with a bloody 

 nose, and broken knees to your horse, which will 

 detract from his value ever afterwards. We have 

 come to park-palings in the course of a run, over 

 which the boughs of trees were hanging so low and 

 stiffly, that riding at them was an impossibility, 

 unless you were anxious to incur the fate of 



