RIDING RECOLLECTIONS 



Should they be chained, look for a weak place in 

 the fence, which, being double, will admit of 

 subdividing your leap by two, and your chance of 

 a fall by ten. 



At first you may be somewhat puzzled on 

 entering a field to find your way out. I will 

 suppose that in other countries you have been 

 accustomed to select the easiest place at once in 

 the fence you are approaching, and to make for it 

 without delay, but across these large fields the 

 nature of an obstacle deceives your eye. The 

 two contiguous hedges that form one boundary 

 render it very difficult to determine at a distance 

 where the easiest place is, so you will find it best 

 to follow the hounds, and take your chance. The 

 deer, like your horse, is a large quadruped, and, 

 except under unusual circumstances, where one 

 goes the other can probably follow. 



This, I fear, is a sad temptation to ride on the 

 line of hounds. If you give way to it, let the 

 whole pack be at least two or three hundred yards 

 in front, and beware, even then, of tail hounds 

 coming up to join their comrades. 



Be careful, also, never to jump a fence in your 

 stride, till you see the pack well Into the next 

 field. A deer is very apt to drop lightly over a 

 wall or upright hedge just high enough to conceal 

 it, and then turn short at a right angle under this 

 convenient screen. It would be painful to realise 



202 



