The Sport of Our Ancestors 



world. Indeed, we conceive it would be useless to expect 

 horses to live with hounds in such a country as Leicestershire, 

 unless they were in condition to enable them to contend 

 for a plate. 



Melton Mowbray generally contains from two to three 

 hundred hunters in the hands of the most experienced 

 grooms England can produce — the average number being 

 ten to each sportsman residing there, although some of those 

 who ride heavy, and rejoice in long purses, have from 

 fourteen to twenty for their own use ; the stud of the Earl 

 of Plymouth for many years exceeded the last-mentioned 

 number. It may seem strange, that one man should, under 

 any circumstances, need so large a number of horses solely 

 for his personal use in the field ; and it must be admitted 

 that few countries do require it. In Leicestershire, how- 

 ever, the universal practice is for each sportsman to have 

 at least two hunters in the field on the same day — a practice 

 found to be economical, as it is from exhaustion, the effect 

 of long-continued severe work, that the health of horses is 

 most injured. And when it is also borne in mind that 

 hounds are to be reached from Melton, Leicester, etc., 

 every day in the week — that one horse out of six in every 

 man's stud is, upon an average, lame, or otherwise unfit for 

 work — and that a horse should always have five days' rest 

 after a moderate, and at least seven or eight after a severe, 

 run with hounds — it will not seem surprising that ten or 

 twelve hunters should be deemed an indispensable stud for 

 a regular Leicestershire sportsman. 



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