2o8 STAG-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 



Nigel writes me, ' a chestnut horse which I bought out of 

 sale of the present Duke of Westminster (then Lord Gros- 

 venor), was, take him all in all, the horse H.K.H. liked 

 the best for many years ; and once when staying at Bad- 

 minton we had quite a good run over the Dodington Vale 

 up on to the high country toward Badminton. I well 

 remember the Prince riding Paddy over a stile first, that, 

 with horses having come so far and so fast, very few indeed 

 would have looked at.' 



It is a common saying that a moderate horse really fit 

 will beat a first-rater that is not fit, and the importance 

 of condition in a stag-hunting stud cannot be overrated. 

 Average condition will not do. A horse must be wound 

 up, and never allowed to get stale, othervdse the effects 

 of a severe day's hunting take a long time passing off. 

 Propitious antecedents play a great part in conditioning 

 a hunter. Personally, I should never buy young horses for 

 the stag-hunting work : it is not so much that a well-bred 

 young horse may not carry the huntsman or whip to the 

 very end, and come home apparently fresh, but it takes the 

 steel out of him, and his constitution is apt to resent it. A 

 stag-hunter must be a seasoned animal. I hke them eight or 

 nine years old, out of a crack stud, with three or four years 

 of some one else's oats in them, plus the elbow grease some 

 Meltonian Mr. Tiptop's subordinates have devoted to muscle 

 and sinew. 



I referred just now with grateful recollection to Chance. 

 And it may here be noticed, that good kennel hacks are most 

 valuable servants in the Eoyal establishment. They are like 

 the odd man in a large house, who always does most of the 

 work. The hunt horses are sent on direct to the Bucking- 

 hamshire side meets, and the men ride their hacks on 

 v/ith the hounds, the hacks being sent back to Windsor, and 

 waiting there till the hounds arrive, or meeting them else- 



