276 FOX-HUNTING IN THE SHIRES 



selected for them in that country. Irish hunters, as 

 we all know, are well bred but seldom or never thorough- 

 bred. For the matter of that, as I have noted else- 

 where, whatever may be our theory, in practice there 

 are very few thoroughbred horses in the Shires. In 

 selecting ladies' horses the inevitable disadvantage at 

 which a woman's seat on horseback places her must 

 be borne in mind. Even with all our modern im- 

 provements in saddles, the handicap is against the 

 woman in the hunting field, and therefore her horse 

 should have manners in a crowd, and should be a really 

 well-schooled hunter. I would rather have manners 

 and cleverness than pace. In the long run, this applies 

 to the needs of many men as well. A very well- 

 mannered horse that is clever withal will show you 

 more sport in grass countries than an apparently 

 faster, but less tractable, animal. It is, however, a 

 fact that in the course of a season women hunting 

 in the Shires, in proportion to their relative numbers, 

 have fewer and less serious falls than do men. The 

 reason of this is threefold. First, that women, from 

 the nature of their seat, are obliged to give a horse 

 more rope at his fences and are less able to interfere 

 with him. Then, they generally ride horses more 

 than up to the weight to be carried. Lastly, women 

 who do not ride up to a fairly high standard retire 

 early from the fray with shattered nerves as the 

 result of a serious fall. A man can ride moderately 

 badly for many years over a country without serious 

 results, but the chances are against an inferior horse- 

 woman. Naturally, when she falls, it is more likely 

 to be a dangerous affair than is a tumble to a man. 

 But, whatever their disadvantages, there can be no 

 doubt that women take a very leading part in the game 

 nowadays, and that when hounds run hard over a 



