346 HUNTING PRELIMINARIES. 



which he may often do involuntarily when landing over a 

 fence, and especially if he gets shifted in his seat, he may 

 have the rowels removed, or use spurs with the ends 

 smooth and rounded. It is a bad plan to use blank rowels 

 — in the form of a shilling for instance ; for they are apt to 

 cut a horse's sides more severely than pointed ones. Spurs 

 with short necks, which are less liable to touch a horse 

 than those with ordinary long ones, are not fashionable ; 

 although they are certainly more workmanlike, unless the 

 rider has extremely long legs in comparison to the depth 

 of the horse at the girths. 



With regard to gloves, the choice lies between brown 

 leather and white woollen ones. In either case, they should 

 be sufficiently large to give perfect freedom to the hands 

 and fingers. With this object, leather ones should be at 

 least two sizes larger than those worn for dismounted use. 

 Tight gloves not only impede the hands in manipulating 

 the reins, but they also make the hands cold. Thick or 

 thin gloves are a matter of fancy. Personally, I like them 

 thin ; because with gloves of this kind, I can feel the reins 

 much better than with thick ones. Woollen gloves are 

 particularly applicable for use in wet weather ; for when 

 the reins are damp, they give a far better grip than leather 

 ones, and keep the hands much warmer. Wool is a far 

 worse conductor of heat than leather, and besides, the 

 woollen material of gloves holds within its interstices a 

 large quantity of air, the heat-conductivity of which is 

 only half that of wool. When using leather gloves, it is a 

 convenient plan to carry a pair of woollen ones between 

 the sweat-flap and the girths on the near side, in case 

 of rain. 



HUNTING MUFTI (RAT-CATCHER). 

 A man should appear in the hunting field, either in correct 



