22 THE SPORT OF KINGS 



which they should be jumped. And jumping a 

 fence properly and getting to the other side of one 

 are widely different matters, as I know by painful 

 experience. 



But if a man looks round and " tak's notes " 

 when he is hunting he will not wonder that there 

 are so few thoroughly -trained, well-mannered 

 hunters, but that there are, comparatively speak- 

 ing, so many. Amongst the crowd, and thrusting 

 his way into it in the vain endeavour to take a 

 young one into the place which none but a 

 seasoned hunter can take and keep, will be seen 

 a promising three-year-old with his long coat on 

 him, with an ill-fitting saddle on his back, and a 

 man who fits the saddle worse than the saddle fits 

 the horse. In his mouth will be found a bridle 

 which is put on at haphazard, without much 

 thought being given as to whether it fits or is 

 adapted to the peculiarities of his mouth. The 

 rider has a pair of spurs on with big rowels in 

 them — that goes without saying — and the spurs 

 are always in evidence. So are the rider's hands, 

 heavy, and always pulling at the horse's mouth, 

 which he euphemistically calls " holding him to- 

 gether and lifting him." That the horse has 

 never been schooled at home is clear, and so the 

 first thing his rider does when he brings him out 

 to see hounds is to select some one whose horse 

 has a reputation of being a good jumper, as his 

 unwilling pilot. If the country is an easy one, 

 with flying fences, all goes well enough for a time, 

 the young one jumps big enough, stretching and 

 "yawing" at his bridle as each fence is approached, 

 and going faster and faster at each until, with his 

 lack of condition, he becomes too tired to jump, 



