My First Pony. 41 



steer him clear of members of the field who 

 were hesitating at the fences or at dangerous 

 obstacles^ as go he would, no matter who or 

 what was in his way, " at it, over it, or in ; " 

 but when hounds were trotting from one covert 

 to another my chief difficulties began. It 

 seemed to make no sort of difference to him 

 whether hounds were running or not, the sight 

 of them moving along seemed to drive him 

 mad, and as long as they were in sight or 

 hearing, he wanted to keep on galloping; and 

 as the hounds went into a field at one gate, 

 I was obliged to go in with them and gallop 

 all round it, so as to emerge at the gate out 

 of it at the same time as they and the horse- 

 men did ; in doing which he was in such a 

 desperate hurry he generally managed either 

 to rub my knees against one of the posts 

 on either side of the gateway, or to knock 

 up against some one's horse, with the not 

 impossible chance of getting my brains kicked 

 out, or else running my thighs up somebody's 

 spur. If the gateway was particularly narrow, 

 and a great crush to get through, he always 

 contrived to get me in the thick of it. If 

 there was any opportunity of running over 



