[HUNTERS.]
The great question in buying horses to carry us with hounds is, of course, expense. If our purses are deep and well-lined, then we can ensure being well carried, provided of course we know sufficiently what we want to be able to choose aright. But even with two or three hundred guinea hunters, we may, according to good authority, only hope for the superlatively good one, once in a lifetime. Yet if only once this joy is to be ours it is worth trying for, the nearer perfection is our horse the greater will our pleasure and comfort be in the hunting field.
In saying this I am speaking of the great majority of women, those, who while being good riders and fair judges of what a horse should be, are yet not among the exceptional few who can make any horse go and most go well, and who can, therefore, lay claim to the title of consummate horsewoman. That the latter is rare, even in these days of hard riding, few will be found to deny, though perhaps many of us have a belief deep down in our minds, to which we would not give utterance for worlds, that we ourselves are above the average in our skill with, and knowledge of, horseflesh.
So those who feel they have nothing to learn will not be likely to trouble themselves with these few words on the choice of hunters, and to the "exceptional few" there is certainly nothing to be said that they do not know far better than one of their less-blessed sisters can tell them. But with these reservations there may still be a goodly proportion of riders to hounds, who will like to consider the subject of what a hunter should and should not be.
With a devout wish then that we could each truly say we find our pleasure in any horse, because even if he is a bad one, the excitement and interest of checking his faults and getting the best out of him, will make up for our loss of pride of place, let us think for a moment of the points essential for the average woman's hunter to possess.
These are, a well-laid shoulder, good carriage of the head and neck, and good manners.