A HOT AND THIRSTY MARCH 253 



Thus Monday, with its quiet repetitive, and Tuesday 

 with its quick action and wide distance, are clear at this 

 moment as any recent noonday after morning haze. It 

 would be difficult to say which day was the hotter, or on 

 which day the ground was more extravagantly dangerous 

 to stable and pocket. We try various theories, with which 

 to extenuate the costly recklessness that brings us into the 

 hunting field under present circumstances. One asserts, 

 with fair show of reason, that hard ground does not 

 seriously affect young, sound horses. It may not. But 

 it certainly will tend to make them old before their time, 

 while, if a good young one should break down, the loss is 

 much more serious than in the case of an old horse 

 already nearly worn out. Another argues that, whereas 

 old horses are apt to hit and hurt themselves in deep 

 ground, they go with comparative safety on the surface, 

 however hard it may be. As to this, I can only say that 

 the old horses are now in the habit of making a terrible 

 noise about it as they land over a fence. They protest 

 with a moan, that varies in its depth and volume only 

 in proportion to their soundness of wind or otherwise. 

 (Could such a test be applied in Messrs. Tattersall's yard, 

 how much trouble would it save the members of the 

 R.C.V.S., and how much poking in the ribs to their luck- 

 less subjects ! ) For my part, I am inclined in theory to 

 lean to the old horse. You then know the most your 

 day's hunting can cost you ; and if, like the rest of us, you 

 have not self-restraint enough to stop at home when 

 conditions are so unfit, at least 3^ou will not be called upon, 

 as it were, to pay for a coat before you have worn it. 

 But beware of the open gaps, trodden and baked to rock. 

 They are more risky and painful, by far, than any fair 

 fence with turf for a landing-stage. 



But to chronicle events is my business. The Grafton 

 on Monday met at Preston Capes ; and, after a somewhat 

 disappointing start, made out the afternoon with a hunt 

 that must have lasted nearly three hours — the whole of 

 it, I am prepared to believe, with one and the same fox. 

 You will understand by this that the pace was never severe, 

 though they ran nicely enough at times upon the grass. 



