THE EIGHT PLAN. 391 



clear ^ but seven or eight can be got over if the horse 

 has learned to take it as a clog does a stile, by leaping 

 on and off; in this Irish horses are unrivalled, and the 

 certainty with Avhich they do it is quite astonishing. 



In England, to be safe, a horse has much more to 

 learn ; for in the generality of countries a hunter has 

 to manage fifty distinct sorts of fences in every run ; 

 but then, in point of labour, he has one advantage ; 

 for in most fences there are gaps or thin places, low 

 stiles to jump, or gates to be opened, if we have time ; 

 if not, a moderate gate requires as little, nay less 

 exertion than a moderate fence ; and provided the 

 taking oiF is sound, and horses are good timber 

 jumpers, and fresh, I ever found they made fewer 

 mistakes at moderate gates than they did at fences. 



Notwithstanding the diversity of knowledge of 

 fences our horses require to be perfect hunters, such 

 is the aristocratic indolence of masters, and the igno- 

 rance and obstinacy of English grooms, that our 

 horses are not taken half the trouble with to make 

 them perfect as fencers that the Irish horses are : 

 they are, to use an Irish term, " trained " to jump 

 from colts ; in fact a four-year-old Irish horse has 

 learned his lesson perfectly, whereas ours very com- 

 monly, when first sho^vn hounds, hardly know a 

 hedge from a hurdle, and are then very frequently 

 trusted to some pully hauly groom to teach them. 



I have, however, found one great objection in many 

 Irish hunters ; from being hunted when young, and 

 consequently weak, their riders are obliged to get 

 them along as they can, and to lift them at all their 

 fences, to make them rise at them ; and when the 

 horse comes to maturity, as but few are kept, they 

 are hunted so often that the same system is perse- 



c c 4 



