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CHAPTER XIV. 



HUNTING PRELIMINARIES. 



Hunting as a Sport — Choice of a Country — The Hunting Season — Getting a 

 Stable Together — Hunting Men and Farmers — Hunting Men and Shooting 

 Men — Joining a Hunt — Hounds — Blood — Foxes — Hunting Things — Hunting 

 Mufti — Riding Gear —Bandages and Boots - Some Hunting Expressions. 



HUNTING AS A SPORT. 



From a riding man's point of view, hunting, as we know it 

 in Great Britain and Ireland, is the best of all sports ; chiefly 

 on account of its variety, its high standard of excellence, 

 its interesting and exciting nature, its health-giving effects on 

 horse and rider, its easy participation, and the fact that a man 

 can take as much or as little of it as he likes, and can enjoy 

 the sport in his own way. The enclosed nature of a hunting 

 country, its varied character, and the differences in its fences, 

 render fox-hunting, as a test of horsemanship, far superior to 

 flat racing, steeplechasing, polo, pig-sticking, show-jumping, 

 or hunting in other countries. In the days when steeple- 

 chases were run over a natural country, the fences were 

 similar to those met with when following the hounds ; but 

 they are now more or less of a uniform pattern. As 

 far as my experience goes, the next best riding sport to 

 fox-hunting is pig-sticking, which unfortunately cannot be 

 enjoyed in this country, and which has the drawbacks of 

 dangerous ground and absence of fences. In riding on the 

 flat and between the flags, the limits of weight are too narrow 

 for the generality of men, and the duration of the contest is 



