RUGBY loi 



but it seems to me that in the last twenty years there 

 has been a great increase in the grass land of this 

 hunt, not only on the Birmingham side, where the 

 change is very notable, but to a certain extent all 

 over the Warwickshire and North Warwickshire hunt- 

 ing districts. Thus a horse here, as in the Pytchley, 

 needs to be stout as well as bold, clever as well as 

 fast. He must jump high at the stout quickset 

 growing strong out of the rich soil, and must spread 

 himself to cover the ditches which are invariably to 

 be found on one side or the other. He must be able 

 to face stiff timber, for a stile will sometimes be the 

 best way out of the field. Nor must he dislike water, 

 for if the brooks are not as a rule large, yet they 

 come fairly often, and a horse which dislikes water 

 is as likely to stop at four feet as at fourteen. 



Altogether this Thursday country is not an easy 

 one. I have seen it indeed crossed by a pony, but 

 then there are ponies that will do anything. This 

 mare, " Freckles," ridden by a lady who came of a 

 family of horsemen and horsewomen, was a wonder, 

 but there is no doubt that with a suitable weight 

 and well ridden there is nothing the modern polo 

 pony cannot do. I have known at least two other 

 polo ponies that have crossed grass countries with 

 pleasure to their riders and credit to themselves. 

 Doubtless there are many more. There is a story in 

 Warwickshire of a friend of Mr. Meynell's who came 

 to live in Warwickshire. He thought the country 

 cramped. " A man who has hunted several seasons 

 in Leicestershire is spoiled for any other country," 

 he remarked. " Warwickshire could not show a run ; 

 there is not room in it." But one day hounds found 

 a stout fox at Walton Wood and killed him a mile 

 and a half from Southam at Watergall in the Thursday 



