THE CASUS BELLI 13 



was used to, saying, " Oh, mine is all right, I had 

 it on another horse last week ! " 



The man had brains, for he had passed into the 

 college a long way first, but that he was sadly 

 deficient in the most elementary knowledge re- 

 garding a Staff officer's proper conveyance is 

 obvious. 



Now, hunting will at any rate prevent a man 

 appearing in any of the three above-mentioned 

 ridiculous lights. You will admit this much, dis- 

 believer ? Very well, we will start with that and 

 take the rest piecemeal, and try and show, chapter 

 by chapter, the various other things that hunting 

 cannot help teaching, and the many, many things it 

 may be made to teach if taken m the right way. 



As, however, it is hoped that these pages may, 

 as well as doing this, be useful to, and help the 

 would-be and the young and inexperienced horse- 

 owning soldier in getting his horse and his kit, in 

 keeping the former, and looking after it, and in 

 getting the best value out of it, it will be necessary 

 to go slow, and to bear in mind the words of the 

 Infantry Drill Book, used with regard to the 

 method of instruction in field training — " Each 

 elementary subject must in turn be completely 

 mastered before another is proceeded with." 



This will no doubt bore the youth who cannot 

 remember the first time he rode, and scarcely the 

 first time he hunted, and who has had a father, a 

 brother, or an older friend to instruct him in the 

 details and etiquette of the chase. 



