CHAPTER IV 



TRAINING THE HUNTER 



He must be taught and trained and bid go forth. 



"Julius Casar. 



It is somewhat astonishing to those who know 

 how popular hunting is and the demand that 

 exists for a really well-mannered hunter that that 

 animal should be so very scarce. In any large 

 field of horsemen, pulling, bolting, and refusing 

 animals preponderate, and it is comparatively 

 seldom that a really fine-mannered horse is seen. 

 By a fine-mannered horse I mean one that will go 

 at the pace his rider wishes, whether he be gallop- 

 ing or going at his fences, and this in a crowd. 

 Of course I do not mean that there are no "quiet" 

 horses. Quiet horses may have bad manners as 

 well as the tearing rakeaway type, and generally 

 the " quiet " horse is a spiritless brute, never seen 

 in a good place, and one that seldom gets through 

 a run with credit to himself and satisfaction to his 

 rider. A good -mannered hunter is a different 

 animal from this. He is a horse that always answers 

 to his rider's hand, that does not make a rash bolt 

 when some other horse comes galloping past him, 

 and that jumps his fences, no matter what they 

 may be, in collected form, and in the style in 



