I70 STAG-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 



with fascinating ways and style about him ; but the swish 

 of branches used to excite him, and he would bound about 

 in a most foolish way at times if I rode him through the 

 stuff. He was 16.3, and not at all the sort of horse 

 which you would pick for the forest ; but however close the 

 grips came together, you could not make him put a foot 

 wrong, and you could not have filled an hour-glass from the 

 damage he did to the crumbly little banks you occasionally 

 have to cross. This instinct some horses have of putting in 

 a short one has always seemed to me like the instinct of 

 time which some people possess in a greater degree than 

 others. There is no better test of an active, resourceful 

 horse than to canter him along the grass siding to a high 

 road, with different-sized grips at short intervals. If he 

 times them all without disturbing the smoothness of your 

 seat, or making you involuntarily job him in the mouth, you 

 may be sure it is all right. It is not a trial an intellectual 

 dealer will often recommend to you. 



I always liked the forest as a school of morals for excit- 

 able, fractious-mouthed horses, which are often treated with 

 greater consideration than they deserve. Nine times out of 

 ten, so far from being humoured, they should not even be 

 consulted. ' He wants very light hands ' is an implied 

 compliment to a horse's courage and to his owner's riding, 

 but it usually only means that this undesirable animal has 

 always had his own way about his neck and head and 

 mouth. Light hands are not the same thing as good hands. 

 Very often light hands only mean that the rider has a good 

 seat, and is consequently undisturbed by a rough uncom- 

 fortable ride, and independent of his reins. The late Mr. 

 Chapman, one of the hunting horsemen of the century, once 

 told me that you should think of your horse's mouth as a 

 piece of delicate pie-crust. It is a pleasant fancy, but, like pie- 

 crust, a mouth wants making, and depends on the cook. Mr. 



