PILOTS.
I have not enlarged on the subject of hunting pilotage, because, truth to tell, I have never indulged in the luxury of a pilot, as I have preferred to know the capabilities of my mount and to see and act for myself. I believe that any woman who can ride and manage her horse with intelligent forethought, has no more need of a paid pilot than has the small boy who takes his chance on his pony. If a lady has no male companion to remain with her during the day’s hunting, she should provide herself with a groom, whose services will be very useful to her, in the event of anything going wrong, and in helping her in various ways. It would be absurd for her to expect casual aid at every turn, in a large field composed chiefly of strangers, especially when its giver would be deprived of his place in a run.
Pilots seem to be going out of fashion, if we may judge by the large number of women who hunt safely without their assistance. The inexperienced huntress generally has her father, brother, husband, or some male friend or servant to show her the way, which is the safest and best method of learning to hunt, because they would know both the capabilities of the young lady and her mount, and could be trusted to keep her out of harm’s way. If a paid pilot is engaged, his horse should not be a better fencer than that of his charge. He should also know her riding form, and over what kind of jumps she intends him to lead her.
I would strongly impress on an inexperienced lady the necessity of learning to judge pace, that is to say, to know at what speed her horse is going. The chief duty of a pilot is to set the pace for her, and to select such fences as he knows her horse is capable of jumping, the former being more important than the latter, as it is far more difficult to learn. She should see that her pilot is safely over a fence before sending her horse at it. Only practice and natural aptitude can teach a lady to judge pace: it cannot be learnt from any book.
A lady should not deceive her pilot, any more than we should withhold the truth from our doctor or lawyer. If she feels more in skirting trim than in hard hunting nerve, she should not hesitate to say so; for we all like to take things easy at times, whether it be in hunting or in anything else, according as we feel fit or otherwise. There is no gainsaying that the human barometer is regulated to a great extent by the weather, as we may see by the big fields which greet the Master on a fine hunting morning.
The unpleasant disclosures which have been recently made in our Law Courts, concerning the free and easy conduct of a certain set of hunting men and women, may prejudice many mothers against hunting as a fitting pastime for their daughters; but the indiscretions of a few idle fast people should not be taken as a sample of the behaviour of an entire field. In the crowd and bustle of hunting, the large majority of the people are seriously engaged in the business of the day, and have no time to indulge in flirtations. Certainly no sane man would choose a meet or covert side, where he is surrounded by a crowd of people, to do his love-making. If the usual discretion is observed in the choice of a companion for a young lady going to and returning from a hunt, she would have far less opportunity for “frivol,” than in any ordinary ball room or theatre. We need only watch hunting men and women passing through a crowded gateway, to see that each one goes in turn, and that there is very little consideration for sex.