50 FOX-HUNTING IN THE SHIRES 



skirter, is likely to find as much enjoyment here as 

 anywhere else in the Midlands. 



There is no question as to where you will go on a 

 Friday, The Quom card will settle that. Wherever 

 that pack is advertised will of course be your destina- 

 tion. The whole of the country is grass and, although 

 it needs the best of horseflesh, it is less trying than 

 the Belvoir, the Cottesmore or Mr. Fernie's. The 

 rider finds it easier too. It calls for pluck and judg- 

 ment, but not the desperate resolution sometimes 

 needed elsewhere ; for, without having the foolhardi- 

 ness of a certain noble lord, who was said to look on 

 every big fence as a challenge which it would be dis- 

 honour to refuse, there are times in some countries 

 when a man must jump a larger fence than he cares 

 for, or resign his place in front and perhaps lose the 

 run altogether. If we except certain places a man 

 may as well ride at one fence as another, and so long 

 as his horse is not blown and is a safe timber-jumper, 

 he can follow the line of the hounds. Not that I mean 

 to suggest that it is child's play to ride to the Quorn, 

 but simply that the tax on the rider's courage and the 

 strength of his horse is less severe. The hills and the 

 ridge and furrow are both there, but are perhaps 

 neither so trying nor so wearing as elsewhere. 



At first sight, the country seems to be one of sound 

 grass and big flying fences, but on closer acquaintance 

 we find that there are drawbacks. The foxes are 

 plentiful indeed but not very enterprising. They may 

 not know a very wide extent of country, but what 

 they do they know thoroughly, so that not a drain or 

 a rabbit hole but receives a hunted fox, not, as would 

 be right if they played the game, as a last resort to 

 save them, but before they have been a decent length 

 of time before hounds. Then there is the crowd, which 



