240 FOX-HUNTING IN THE SHIRES 



horse, because in the Shires I think a good big horse 

 is better than a good httle one. Upstanding horses 

 of 16.1-16.2 are the best, and I have known 17-hand 

 horses which rode, as the saying is, hke a pony. Size, 

 courage, and a fairly good temper are all we need look 

 to unless we are millionaires. " Handsome is as hand- 

 some does " is an excellent motto for the horse buyer 

 who has to consider his purse. Many good horses are 

 rather plain to look at. Read the following descrip- 

 tion of a certain horse called Ferryman, which saw 

 out the first and second horses in a great run in 

 Northamptonshire. " He was a coarse, ugly, ragged- 

 hipped chestnut horse, a very plain head, lean and 

 long but beautifully hung on, as we say, to his neck, 

 and with rather a Roman nose. Shoulders nearly 

 perpendicular in front, but at the same time running 

 far enough into the chine to come under the denomina- 

 tion of lengthy ones. A very long shank bone with 

 long elastic pasterns, a long back with an indifferent 

 spur place, though not exactly light in his carcase ; 

 quarters good, hocks lean and hind legs well bent under 

 him." Now this horse had a great many good points. 

 His shoulders indeed were not those which the late 

 Lord Willoughby said were a luxury for the rich, but 

 he could use them or he could not, as he did, have 

 jumped a stiff stile out of deep ground at the end of a 

 long day. Note too the long pasterns, and we shall 

 not be surprised to learn that he was " the smoothest 

 galloper over ridge and furrow I ever rode in my life." 

 There is a point which is not mentioned in the above 

 description, but which is of the greatest importance. 

 Some of the best, and all the pleasantest, hunters I 

 have ever ridden have been rather narrow between 

 one's legs, but deep through the heart, and, for grass 

 countries, I should say look out for depth rather than 



