HORSE FOR GRASS COUNTRIES 263 



culties increase as time goes on. Yet I frankly confess 

 after many years of horses of all kinds (except the 

 best), that to ride such horses is very much better than 

 not to hunt at all, and greatly intensifies the pleasure 

 of occasional rides on the perfect animals that some- 

 times come one's way. But all the more do I dissuade 

 the beginner from such practices, and regard as some- 

 thing less than wise the man who does not mount 

 himself as well as he can afford to, and chooses his 

 horses with less thought than he gives to his cigars 

 or his wines. I do not think Leicestershire is the 

 place for the man who wants to hunt cheaply, unless 

 he is an unusually fine horseman and a very brave man. 

 Of course, in a book like this one can only deal 

 with general principles, and therefore I should not be 

 moved from this conviction by any number of ex- 

 ceptions that might be brought forward. They are 

 exceptions, and most of us are not. Every one who 

 makes up his mind to hunt comfortably in the Shires 

 must put £1000 in his pocket to spend on his horses, 

 and, allowing for casualties and depreciation, they 

 should be worth three-fourths of that sum at any 

 given moment when they were sent up for sale. They 

 might of course be worth less or more, but that I think 

 will be found a fair average calculation of the outlay 

 on horseflesh and rather under than over the mark as 

 an estimate. 



