RIDING RECOLLECTIONS 



galloping steadily on, calm and vigorous, when 

 the country behind him is dotted for miles with 

 hunters standing still in every field. 



It is obvious that a breed, reared expressly for 

 racing purposes, must be the fastest of its kind. 

 A colt considered good enough to be "put 

 through the mill " on Newmarket Heath, or 

 Middleham Moor, whatever may be his short- 

 comings in the select company he finds at school, 

 cannot but seem "a flyer," when in after-life he 

 meets horses, however good, that have neither 

 been bred nor trained for the purpose of galloping 

 a single mile at the rate of an express train. 

 While these are at speed he is only cantering, 

 and we need not therefore be surprised that he 

 can keep cantering on after they are reduced to a 

 walk. 



In the hunting-field, "what kills is the pace." 

 When hounds can make it good enough they kill 

 their fox, when horses cannot it kills the7n, and for 

 this reason alone, if for no other, I would always 

 prefer that my hunters should be quite thorough- 

 bred. 



Though undoubtedly the best, I cannot affirm, 

 however, that they are always the pleasantest 

 mounts ; far from it, indeed, just at first, though 

 subsequent superiority makes amends for the 

 little eccentricities of gait and temper peculiar to 

 pupils from the racing-stable in their early youth. 



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