ISrO— 71.] THE HORSE FOR LEICESTERSHIRE. 3 



sliows in the case of Mr. Sawyer and his httle grey, you must 

 have size. A small thoroughbred will go and jump a big place, 

 and his blood and courage will help him more than anything. 

 But it is the succession of big places that kills him, for at each 

 of them he has to exert twice the effort that would be required 

 from a larger horse. In the galloping, even, he has not so 

 much advantage, for he is drowned in the ridge-and-furrow that 

 the greater stride makes light of. He will win a steeplechase no 

 doubt, giving weight to his coarser brother ; but then steeple- 

 chases are seldom run over the same style of country, and 

 moreover, there is all the tiring, dragging work of a day's 

 hunting to be considered. No better proof of the correctness 

 of this view can be given than the instances of Mr. Tailby, and 

 Mr. Mills, who, though light men, have for years trusted solely to 

 big, powerful cattle. Another point we might have mentioned 

 is that, while a light horse is pidled and shaken about by the 

 thick bullfinches, a heavy one makes his way through with but 

 little difficulty to himself and much greater safet}' to his rider, 

 tRough, as the face of Leicestershire has undergone a great 

 change of late years, and vast numbers of the venerable tangled 

 old bullfinches have been transformed into smart stake-and- 

 bounds, actual weight is not of such vital consequence as it 

 used to be. 



As regards shape, it is said on the fiat that, "they can go in 

 all forms ; " but though symmetrical evenness is by no means 

 a sine qua nnn in the hunting field, there are certain all-im- 

 portant points which are the foundation stones of the whole 

 structure, and upon which a man should insist before casting a 

 second glance over a proffered purchase. First and absolutely', 

 the shoulders must be unexceptionable. Sloping, clean, and 

 well-defined, they should sweep right back, catching the eye at 

 once with theii* sharp outline. A loaded shoulder means a 

 crumpler over timber, while a straight one points its forefinger 

 at the back sinews. The two essentials to enable a horse to 

 withstand the shock of landing over wide places are sloping 

 shoulders and sloping pasterns, and without these he will be 



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