RIDING RECOLLECTIONS 



valuable quality to everybody who comes out 

 hunting, is no less rare than precious. If we 

 have it, we are to be congratulated and our horses 

 still more, but if, like the generality of men, we 

 have it not, let us consider how far common-sense 

 and close attention will supply the want of a 

 natural gift. 



It was said of an old friend of mine, the keenest 

 of the keen, that he always rode as if he had 

 never seen a run before, and should never see a 

 run again ! This, I believe, is something of the 

 feeling with which we ought to be possessed, 

 impelling us to take every legitimate advantage 

 and to throw no possible chance away. It cannot 

 be too often repeated that judicious choice of 

 ground is the very first essential for success. 

 Therefore the hunting - field has always been 

 considered so good a school for cavalry officers. 

 There seems no limit to the endurance of a horse 

 in travelling over a hard and tolerably level 

 surface, even under heavy weight, but we all 

 know the fatal effect of a very few yards in a 

 steam - ploughed field, when the gallant animal 

 sinks to its hocks every stride. Keep an eye 

 forward, then, and shape your course where the 

 foothold is smooth and sound. In a hilly country 

 choose the sides of the slopes, above, rather than 

 below, the pack, for if they turn away from you, 

 it is harder work to gallop up than down. In 



178 



