HUNTERS. 



305 



object out of the animal's vicinity ; in the latter, it is an 

 attempt to inflict injury. The necessity of accustoming horses 

 to hounds, or at least to dogs, before taking them into the 

 hunting field, is obvious. With this object it is well to keep 

 a foxhound in the stable-yard, and take him out with the 

 hunters when they go to exercise. We may cure a horse 

 of kicking hounds ; but I have never known a horse cured of 

 kicking other horses. 



Fig. 219, Wiie. 



One cannot expect to buy a " made " and well-conditioned 

 hunter under six years old. An Irish four-year-old often 

 knows as much as an English six,-year-old ; but he has not 

 had the " hard " feeding which is necessary to qualify him for 

 the first flight in the Shires ; and, besides, he will as a rule 

 know little or nothing about jumping hedges and posts and 

 rails. Irish horses are sometimes hunted when they are 

 only three. One great advantage of experience, and conse- 

 quently of age, in a hunter, is freedom from impetuousness ; 



20 



