66 THE HORSE 



position and gifted with intelligence, is equally at home 

 over the broad pastures and flying fences of Leicestershire, 

 the cramped fences of Devonshire, or the intricate banks 

 of Wexford, Kildare, or Westmeath. In countries where 

 the enclosures are of considerable size, and scent lies well, 

 it is of the utmost importance that a hunter should possess 

 great pace, if his rider intends to be carried right up to the 

 hounds ; and if the horse can both gallop and jump, other 

 faults, if not too pronounced, may be overlooked by a first- 

 class rider, who means "to be there." But in cramped, 

 awkward countries, where it is often necessary to pull up 

 and take a look at a fence before jumping, and then 

 perhaps to crawl leisurely down, pace is not of such 

 primary importance as docility and cleverness. Such a 

 country, in fact, as one in which a youthful sportsman 

 one day, when perched on the top of a high bank bordering 

 the lane along which the huntsman was passing below 

 with the pack, called out in tones of agonised entreaty, 

 "Matthews! Matthews! Will I slither, or lep ? " The 

 rider who has hunted all his life in this latter country, 

 does not therefore understand the value placed upon pace 

 in the flying countries, where rivalry is keenest, as Whyte- 

 Melville so inimitably portrayed in the character of Mr. 

 Sawyer when he visited Market Harborough ; and he cannot 

 comprehend why his own clever, stiff-built little nag, 

 which has carried him without a mistake over the creepy- 

 crawly fences in his own country, should fetch sixty to 

 eighty guineas at Tattersalls, whilst his neighbour's gallop- 

 ing hunter, which in his heart of hearts he considers quite 

 inferior to his own, is eagerly competed for, far into three 

 figures. 



It is not, also, always the case that a hunter fetches 

 a long figure on account of his performances, for looks 

 play a great part, and hundreds of riders go out hunting 

 who have no intention whatever of going straight, at any 

 rate in England. In Ireland it is quite different, for the 

 paucity of gates, and the almost certainty that if there 

 is one to be seen it will be fastened to a stone gatepost 

 with a strong chain and a stout padlock, makes it a si7ie qud 



