HEAD, HANDS 55 



loss of time. As Whyte- Melville remarks in one of 

 his hunting songs, 



* He has science and nerve, and decision as well ; 

 He knows what he's at, and means to be there.' 



Nor can hesitation be more fatal than when hounds 

 are running, A man who possesses a head is ever 

 an acquisition in the hunting-field and the master's 

 best friend, for not only will he himself never prove a 

 sport-spoiler, but by his example he will restrain those 

 who are inclined to press too closely on hounds, or 

 wantonly damage crops, etc. Such a man will not 

 only be quick to ' get away,' but having obtained the 

 lead which he is so well fitted to assume, will most 

 assuredly retain it to the end. 



Good hands are the exception, not the rule, for they 

 are but rarely met with, and yet they are as necessary 

 as heads. Hands, to be good, must be not only 

 light, but strong. Hence, therefore, over-weak hands 

 can hardly be 'good.' Delicacy of touch, and a fair 

 amount of strength also, must combine with each 

 other. I have known men who, with twenty-five 

 years' experience, have never succeeded in acquiring 

 good hands, and who, in consequence, were constantly 

 coming to grief. No matter how good an eye for a 

 country a man may possess, or how firm a seat or 

 stout a heart, if his hands are bad both he and his 

 horse must suffer ; there is no help for it. Whether 

 through nervousness, ignorance, or from whatsoever 

 cause a man's hands are heavy on his horse's mouth, 

 the result is the same. Many a good horse is thrown 

 down from being pulled at and messed about at the 

 very time when it is of the very greatest consequence 

 that he should be allowed to extend himself in order 



