138 



OUR DOMESTIC ANIMALS 



wonderfully well for their work. After passing 

 another six months in training at the regimen- 

 tal stations they are drafted into the squadrons 

 or the batteries. 



VI. Hunting 



After war came hunting as the next neces- 

 sity in which men learned to use horses, as 

 we see by the statues and engrav 

 ings that represent tf) us 

 St. George hunting the 

 dragon and coming- 

 victorious from 

 the fight 



The de- 

 struction/ 

 of dan-/ 

 gerous 

 a n cl 



Hunting has alwa)-s been an English passion 

 which, like many other sports and bodily exer- 

 cises, has passed from Great Britain to the 

 Continent and to America. This explains why 

 the English have applied themselves especially 

 to the breeding of hunting horses. The countr\' 

 itself, by the lay of its land, is very favorable to 

 cynegetic exercises, having few curves and many 

 plains with only such obstacles and 

 barriers as a horse can jump. 

 The annals of hunting 

 in England are ver}- 

 interesting to 

 hose who 

 have a taste 

 for that 

 sort of 

 thing. 



It IS 



mischie- -i^-^-fma— 

 \"ous ani- %'i<",'- 

 mals, which 'l'-':, '.Ci/-'-^'^^- 

 at hrst was a 

 n e ce s s i t )', be- 

 came very c|uickly a 

 pleasure, and has ended '^'^''„'' /«j:;,.v 

 in becoming an art, thanks to 

 the enjoyment deri\'ed from motion 

 in the open air, and from the pleasure 

 of surmounting obstacles and brax'ing dangers. 

 The death of the hunted animal is only an 

 accessory; the seeking of the dogs, the jo)'ous 

 sound of the huntsman's horn, the pleasure 

 of proving to others our agilitv, strength, 

 courage, intrepidity, — herein lies the true joy 

 of hunting. 



r,i;K.\l.-\N li(ll)\"(;C.\HI> 



related 

 -7 that earU- 

 in the last 

 c e n t u r y a 

 deer, hunted by 

 the hounds of the 

 king of England, ran 

 for four hours and fort\--h\"e 

 minutes. Rider after rider gave up 

 and could. I'ide no more. One horse 

 fell dead, another expired before he reached the 

 stable, and se\en others died during" the follow- 

 ing week (a mortality as great as or even greater 

 than that of a Spanish bullfight). Huntsmen 

 never lose sight of the game, which can, there- 

 fore, never slacken its speed or rest for a single 

 instant. Eor the best horse a run of four hours 



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