246 SPECIAL POINTS OF VARIOUS CLASSES OF HORSES 



be quite certain that no horse is too fast for a Leicestershire 

 pack of hounds which gets well away with a clear start from 

 the field, behind a stout and straight-running fox, and with a 

 good scent. The two horses which, to my thinking, more 

 nearly approached in conformation the ideal Leicestershire 

 hunter than any others I have ever seen, were Cloister 

 (Frontispiece), the greatest chaser of all time, and Liberator, 

 who was unapproachable in his day. Both of them were 

 well able to carry 15 stone to hounds, which is a task that 

 should not be beyond the compass of the ideal animal we are 

 considering. Gamecock (Fig. 259), another winner of the 

 Grand National, and an extraordinarily fine stayer, had all 

 the *' shape and make" of a hunter of the highest class. 

 Midshipmite (Fig. 260), who is very smart over a country 

 for three miles and has perfect jumping shoulders, is not 

 very good in his loins and back ribs. The same remark 

 applies to Specs (Fig. 255), who, being longer in the body in 

 comparison to his height, does not approach the race-horse 

 type as nearly as does Midshipmite. During recent years, 

 the best Leicestershire hunter (I am speaking of the middle- 

 weight division) is Mr. H. T. Barclays Lord Arthur, who 

 has won several steeplechases and ran well in the Grand 

 National, but was beaten for speed. He possesses, in a 

 high degree, the peculiarity, which is invaluable in a saddle- 

 horse (p. 137), of having very powerful limbs in comparison 

 to the weight of his body (contrast the fore legs in Fig. 329 

 with those in Figs. 283 and 308). Specs (Fig. 255), who is 

 honest, clever, and smart at his own distance and under a 

 suitable weight, is built in the same way, but has not as 

 powerful loins or as '' close coupling " as Mr. Barclay's 

 chestnut. Cloister, Gamecock, Lord Arthur, Midshipmite, 

 Specs, and the vast majority of fine hunters and good 

 chasers, are considerably higher at the withers than over the 

 croup. We see this point in Fig. 331, which is a portrait of 

 one of the best weight-carrying hunters that ever crossed 

 the Rugby country ; and in Salary (Fig. 282), a clever and 

 well-bred Irish mare of the old-fashioned sort. As exceptions 



