THE ABUSE OF THE SPUR 



men you are sure to be asked almost as many 

 times, " Why don't you wear spurs ? " if you set 

 appearances at defiance by coming into the 

 hunting-field without them. 



In my personal recollection I can only call to 

 mind one man who systematically abjured so 

 essential a finish to the horseman's dress and 

 equipment. This was Mr. Tomline of Leigh 

 Lodge, a Leicestershire farmer and horse-dealer, 

 well known some thirty years ago as one of the 

 finest riders and straightest goers that ever got 

 into a saddle. His costume, indeed, was not of 

 so careful a nature that want of completeness in 

 any one particular could spoil the general effect. 

 He always hunted in a rusty, worn pilot-jacket, 

 drab breeches with strings untied, brown-topped 

 boots, and a large ill-fitting hat, carrying in his 

 hand a ground-ash plant, totally useless for 

 opening a gate if he did not happen to jump it. 

 Yet thus accoutred, and generally on a young 

 one, so long as his horse's condition lasted, he 

 was sure to be in front, and, when the fences were 

 rougher than common, with but two or three 

 companions at most. 



I have not yet forgotten the style in which I 

 once saw him coax a four-year-old to jump a 

 "bottom" under Launde, fortified by a high post 

 and rail — downhill — a bad take-off — and almost 

 a ravine on the far side ! With his powerful 

 F 63 



