HINTS ON RIDING TO BOUNDS 63 



thrown well back by straightening- the knees. I have 

 seen innumerable accidents occur by reason of horses 

 having been improperly ridden at ' doubles ' — so rattled 

 at them that they have had to fly them and could 

 only kick back at the bank, instead of being taken 

 slowly and given time to change on it, I have at 

 times seen horses so raced at a double that they could 

 not even kick back at all, and in endeavouring to fly 

 the whole concern come to the most awful grief and 

 sustain either a broken neck or back. 



There is nowadays a great increase of what may be 

 termed the ' flying portion ' in the hunting field, and 

 there are in consequence an infinitely greater number 

 of bad accidents than there were formerly. 



I have invariably noticed that when men who have 

 been used to hunting in one country visit another the 

 chances are that their horses are unsuitable. I have 

 known hundreds of Englishmen who have come over 

 to Ireland for the express purpose of having a 'dart' 

 with the Meath or the Ward, and in hardly one 

 single instance have I ever known a man able to live 

 through a run the first time. Perhaps one of the most 

 notable examples of this was Lord Spencer, who when 

 he was first made Viceroy very often came out with 

 the Ward, and every day came to the most desperate 

 grief. I one day took the liberty of informing him that 

 flying banks on English horses would never do for the 

 country, and the next season, when he had bought Irish 

 horses and adopted a different method of riding at his 

 fences, no one could possibly have gone better than he 

 did, and he finished many a good run alongside of the 

 late Mr. L. Morrogh, the well-known master of the 

 Ward. Some people are rash enough to assert that 



