OBSERVATIONS ON FOX-HUNTING 123 



quence will be they will get fat in their insides, 

 and the first hunting day, if the hounds go the 

 pace, and your horse is not rode with great judg- 

 ment, he will soon have the " puff " out of him ; 

 and if forced on, and put to a fence in this state 

 of exhaustion, he is almost sure to fall, and will 

 probably break a blood-vessel, or injure himself 

 so seriously, as not to be worth five pounds after- 

 wards. 



I am convinced that most accidents happen 

 to both man and horse from the unfortunate 

 animal being thus urged on (after he is blown), 

 by an injudicious rider, one who will not conde- 

 scend to " drop a stern " for a few seconds to 

 give his horse wind, even to save the life of a 

 valuable hunter. To prevent the possibility of 

 so much cruelty on the part of my boys, if I 

 thought they had ever any chance of fox-hunting, 

 I would send them out on foot with the harriers ; 

 that when they got blown in running, they might 

 at a future period have compassion for their 

 horses in a similar situation. 



Horses, according to the present system of 

 riding, unless it should be a very long day, have 

 little to do, not sufficient to keep them in 

 wind ; la mode is, to have two or three out each 

 day. Light weights can have no excuse for this 

 practice, unless they have some bad ones which 



