SOME YORKSHIRE AMD WESTERN MIDLAND HUNTS. 1 85 



there are hills in the Ledbury country, and I was accustomed 

 to hills. Auybow, though the country may be no better, 

 the Ledbury suited me best, and I saw a lot of first- 

 rate sport in it, for a short time under Mr. F. M. Talbot, 

 but chiefly during Mr. Charles Morrell's mastership, and my 

 first appearance with this pack was most unpropitious. I had 

 hired a mare who looked like a hunter, but had probably 

 never seen hounds before. She bucked, kicked, and reared, 

 and after a time came down through losing her balance when 

 rearing. Boys, however, are not very particular, and a gallop 

 soon brought her to a more amicable state of mind. But she 

 galloped into her fences, and gave me a lot of falls, until I 

 gave her a proper jumping education, after which she became 

 a useful mount. About this time I bought the first horse I 

 ever owned — a black mare, very well bred, and said to have 

 beem by an Arab sire. 1 was a light weight then, and this 

 mare carried me well, being a bold, free jumper, fairly fast, 

 and a rare one to get through a really long day. I shall never 

 forget the style in which she jumped a gate the first day I 

 rode her. I fancy I had never been over a proper five-barred 

 gate before, and I do not think I had any intention of jump- 

 ing one; but hounds were hunting in Bosbury Wood, and the 

 field were inside the covert when they went away. We all 

 galloped down a ride, and the first man to reach the gate 

 shouted out that it was locked, pulled his horse back, put him 

 at it, and got over with a scramble. My mare pricked her 

 ears, and showed signs of wanting to follow. So I let her go, 

 and she got over quite clear. Whether anyone else came I do 

 not remember, but we two v/ere by ourselves for ten minutes, 

 and then came a big orchard, and in those days I used to 

 think the orchards were the only great nuisance of the Led- 

 bury country, which is, I need hardly write, a great apple 

 and pear growing district. On almost every farm 

 there is an orchard, some of them very large, and 

 nearly all of them close to the house and farm build- 

 ings. Asi far as my experience goes, there was, almost 

 invariably, a large entrance gate to the orchard, close to the 

 farm, but frequently no exit, except perhaps a very awkward 

 stile. Why the obstruction, then? I may be asked, and the 



