T^he Poor Maris Hunter 



the weight drawn. The master should have his 

 coming hunting season always before his mind. A 

 horse so treated will condition himself; he should 

 want no physic. All that will be needed will be a 

 few weeks gentle work, which may be taken with 

 the hounds when they go out cub-hunting in the 

 early morning. A horse so treated will, if he is 

 of the right sort, work on for years, improving 

 steadily. 



I am bound to say, however, that I think the man 

 with one horse will see more sport in a good pro- 

 vincial county than he would in the shires. I say a 

 good provincial county, because there is one draw- 

 back to many coiinties, which certainly is against the 

 one-horse man, and that is the time it takes to find a 

 fox. When the draws are long, a horse has often 

 done nearly, if not quite, his day's work before the 

 run begins. 



Another point to bear in mind is that it is an 

 economy of horseflesh to ride slowly at your 

 fences. A number of flying fences, though in 

 themselves insignificant, take more out of a horse 

 striding over them at a gallop than larger fences 

 taken at a slow pace. 



The late Colonel Anstruther Thomson, who was 

 a big man, went slowly at his fences, even when 

 he was Master of the Pytchley, and I could men- 

 tion many masters of hounds, who are successful 

 in being with their hounds, who do the same. 

 It is obvious that if you drop in for a run of 



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