HUNTER BREEDING 315 



fied them does not come up to the standard of 

 perfection required by the wealthy hunting man of 

 to-day. Then again, the demand is much greater. 

 More men hunt, more men have second horses out, 

 and men on the average hunt more frequently than 

 they did a quarter of a century ago, the increased 

 railway facilities doubtless having something to do 

 with this. So that although, as I have said, I am 

 not one of those who preach the decadence of the 

 hunter, it would be folly not to recognise the facts 

 that the supply of really high-class horses scarcely 

 equals the demand. 



One thing with respect to hunter breeding 

 which cannot fail to strike an observant man is 

 how men who do not ride are anxious to give the 

 benefit of their advice to men who do. Hence we 

 are inundated with theories about half-bred sires, 

 bone below the knee, and how to breed weight- 

 carriers, every third man one meets having a theory 

 of his own how to breed the latter. And it is not 

 a little curious that heavy men, if they be men 

 who mean going to hounds, never theorise about 

 breeding hunters, but they manage to get hold of 

 horses that can go somehow or other. I fancy that 

 most heavy men will echo the sentiment of the late 

 Major Whyte-Melville, " Give me a thoroughbred 

 horse with brains." Your theorist will tell you 

 that a thoroughbred horse to carry 1 5 stone is not 

 to be found, which is simply nonsense. Nothing 

 is so sure as that the man who is led away by show- 

 yard standards will find himself " left " when 

 hounds run fast over a big country, and during a 

 pretty long experience I cannot call to mind many 

 horses that made a great name in the show ring 

 and the hunting field. 



