Wire ([Fig. 114]) is terribly common in some parts of the Shires, and often makes any attempt to ride straight impossible. In countries where it is prevalent, speed is a much more valuable attribute of a hunter than cleverness in jumping, because the main object of the rider will then be, as a rule, to get over fields and through gates with a minimum of “lepping.” Some of our Colonial sisters might taunt us for not trying to leap wire in the brave manner done by Miss Harding ([Fig. 102]) and other New Zealand and Australian horsewomen, but their conditions of country are entirely different from ours. In the Shires, for instance, wire, as a great rule, is visible only from one side of the fence which it contaminates, and often takes the form of a concealed trap. Hence it is carefully avoided both by horses at grass and by riders.
My husband tells me that banks, stone walls and “stone gaps” are the chief fences in Ireland; that hedges are seldom encountered, except in the form of furze on the top of banks; and that he has rarely seen posts and rails in his native land. While enjoying a very pleasant visit last winter with Mr. Arthur Pollok, the Master of the East Galway Hounds, he took the photographs of Figs. [115] to [120]. [Fig. 115] shows a broad bank about 4 feet high, with a deep ditch on each side, and a tall man standing on the top of it, so as to give an idea of its dimensions. [Fig. 116] is a side view of [Fig. 115]. In [Fig. 117], Mr. Pollok, who is also tall, is standing beside a higher and more upright bank which has the usual accompaniment of broad ditches. In [Fig. 118], the very popular Master of the East Galway is close to a typical Galway stone wall of the “cope and dash” order and close on 5 feet in height. This formidable obstacle derives its name from the fact that the stones on its top are firmly cemented together by a dash of mortar. The Masters, hunting men, hunting ladies, and horses of the East Galway and Blazers think nothing of “throwing a lep” over a cope and dash of this kind. Ordinary second flighters in the Shires would probably prefer the Galway “loose stone wall” depicted in [Fig. 119] or the small bank shown in [Fig. 120]. He also tells me that although there is wire in East Galway, it is used only for fencing-in large spaces of ground, and as it stands out alone by itself, it is no source of danger to horse or rider. My husband returned to Crick delighted with the people in County Galway, especially because, when he went out hunting, almost everyone of the small field, both ladies and men, seeing that he was a stranger, were glad to meet him, and went up and spoke to him in a very friendly manner. Over there, hunting is evidently a sport, and not a social function.