CHAPTER XI 



GETTING INTO POSITION FOR THE ATTACK 



Moving off from the rendezvous ! This is apt to 

 set the human heart beating above normal, both in 

 the Image and in the Real ; and in the former it 

 certainly has this effect on the equine heart. The 

 result often is that the owner "gets his dander up," 

 as Mr. Jorrocks says, and plays about in a way by 

 no means comfortable to a bad or nervous rider. 



How to suppress, or rather to keep within bounds, 

 these expressions of the exuberance of Equine 

 Spirits ? Talk to him, and give him a chuck or 

 two under the chin, as described in Chapter VI. 

 Better still, move off with the hounds, and keep him 

 close behind them. This will please him, give him 

 something to look at and think about, and make 

 him forget his desire to " play up." It will also get 

 you out of the crowd, particularly of the carriages, 

 foot people, and, it must be added now-a-days, 

 cyclists. It is far better to be well ahead of all 

 these when on a fresh and eager horse who will 

 sidle down the road. 



We are nearing the covert. Are we going into 

 it, or going to take our chance outside? If the 



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