164 ON' HORSING THE MEIf. 



take no care of them, but wear them out as soon 

 as they can, that they may have others. It is won- 

 derful how almost all horses which are continually being 

 badgered about, learn to take care of themselves when 

 they have had enough ; good seasoned hunters of this 

 description are invaluable in a kennel-stud, to put the 

 under-whips on, as they will go on at a certain pace 

 for ever ; they never are killed by distress, and are 

 invariably good fencers, which is a consideration of 

 the first importance. Some men will declare, that 

 anything which will go fast enough will do to carry a 

 whipper-in ; but persons who make these sort of ridi- 

 culous assertions, only expose their gross ignorance, 

 and evidently set forth to the world the slight expe- 

 rience they must have had in all hunting matters. Nine 

 foxes out of ten which are lost at the end of good runs, 

 and which undoubtedly ought to have been killed, owe 

 their escape to no other circumstance in the world 

 than the men's horses being so beaten that no assist- 

 ance can be given to the hounds at a time when they 

 most require it. For this reason a huntsman should 

 invariably have a second horse out, and if another spare 

 horse was always in readiness for either of the whip- 

 pers-in who might stand in need of it, it would be all the 

 better, and in the end considerably save the wear and 

 tear in the hunting-stable. I recollect, many years ago, 

 an excellent run in Northamptonshire, from Stamford- 

 hall (Mr. Otway Cave's), when Sir Charles Knightley 

 hunted that country; Jack Wood, of whom I have 

 spoken before, was at that time huntsman (previous to 

 his going into Warwickshire), and his horse being dead 

 beat near the end of the day, close to the Hermitage, 

 Mr. Whitworth, the sporting draper of Northampton, 



