[64] 



CHAPTER IV. 



* The three H's ' — Hints on ridaig to hounds — Hints on visiting a 

 strange country — Captain Cunningham's (nth Hussars) horse 

 Stilton. 



Three qualifications are necessary for the man who 

 would aspire to be a good rider to hounds. I will 

 term them ' the three H's,' viz., ' Head,' ' Hands,' 

 and ' Heart.' The first enables a man not only to take 

 care of himself and his horse, but to get the utmost out 

 of the latter without unduly distressing it — to realize 

 the pace at which hounds are running at the time, and 

 to save his horse as far as is compatible with the 

 maintenance of a good position ; and while taking his 

 own time and keeping it, to take advantage of every 

 circumstance which may tend to lessen the labour of 

 the animal. A fox is never accounted for until he is 

 killed, and it is impossible to say how long a run may 

 last or what country may yet have to be crossed before 

 it is over. It is easy enough, perhaps, to get into a 

 field, but it may be an altogether different matter to 

 get out of it, and while a thoughtless, heedless man 

 may bring himself and his horse to grief, or be 

 aimlessly riding about endeavouring to find a negoti- 

 able place in a fence, one with his wits about him will, 

 the instant he enters the field, detect the right spot to 

 make for, and be over or through without hesitation or 



