The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1894-10-16
HUNTING IN ENGLAND.
From Harper's Magazine.

We of America are prone to fancy
our hunting country sitter than the
Englishman's, and point TO the timber
of Long Island to bear us witness: but
there is so great a dissimilarity be-
tween the two that comparison can
scarcely be made. They differ totally
In that the jumping of one is all open,
while with the other it is practically
all hidden. 1t is not that the average
jumps in England are so high or so
stout so much as it is in the conceal
ment of their true nature. 1t is easy
enough to pop over bank with hedge
on top of 1t, but when that bank and
hedge have ditch on the take-off side,
and in mid-air you get the first in
timation of a yawning drain on the
landing side also, you begin to appre-
ciate some of the difficulties that make
staying with the hounds no boys plav.
When you have dropped into ''bot-
TOM" with its rottOn and overhanginr
bank, and staid there long enough to
see the last of Struggling field 90
past you, you realize that all hunting
in Leicestershire is not smooth going
over beautiful grass; and when You
come, finally, to the terrific ''oxers'
and the staled-an3 bound hedges. with
timber on both sides, that are to be
found in the Pytchley country, you
conclude there is just as stiff jumping
in England as the tallest and stOuted
post-andTails CT the Meadow Brook
country afford. Comparatively speak
ing, it Is a simple matter to ride
up to timber and buck over it, or. if
the way is clear, to take it in your
stride, for you see precisely where you
are going 20 land. In most of our
country we nave clear going and unob-
struCted view Cor every jump we make;
but IN nearly all Of England you never
know what awaits you. and rarely can
you see where you are going to land.
You need faith ana nerve and d su-
periOr hunter for such going; but
when you have all three, ana the fox
is running straight, then indeed are
you blind to all danger, aglow with /
that rapturous excitement for which 4
to quote Nhyte Melville-many are I
content to live, and even, in few sad 4
cases, to die.
There are undoubtedly hunters in 1
America just a well bred and quite as 4
clever, that would perform with equal /
If schooled to the country. |
Indeed. there Is no reason why we 4
should not have as good, since we buy /
in the same market, Ireland; but the 4
average in Leicestershire Is. OF course. 4
much higher than in America. first. be
cause OF the infinitely larger number Of
men who ride to hounds, and second,
because the country demands more Of
the horse. Outside OF the ''shires, with
a few famous exceptions, our hunters
are OF quite as good, and in many cases
Of superior breeding
II would be naturally supposed that
an American-bred horse could hardly
be worked over such a country a.
Leicestershire, and yet Mr.. Fcxhall
keene has a Melton-Mowbray, n
Nlmrod. one OF a stud OF ten as fine
hunters as money can buy, a product
Of American breeding. that, without
claiming 10 be a speculative animal.
compares favorably with the best cross
country performers in the ''shires-"
As FOR the riding, l do not hesitate
to say that. N proportion 20 the size
q the fields, one sees better form n
America than in England II the
first place. Of the several hun
bred a. the covert-side. probably
ZEN per cent make . pre;enee a. 90
ng straight, and with this n daily
evidence. the constant attendance OF 50
-rear q number Of second horses. 50
many Of which were never by any
,hance called into service afforded me
10 end Of amusement.
Those who 90 70 straight. however.
ire the hardest riders and eleve7est
lor>emen y the world, though even
Ae>e Do not eNcei the picks - our
performers. for IN the
aireS I always observed Mr.. ke,u-
with the very 6r>t q the 1rs; aicht,
shile n the Meath country the two
.l,sis brothers-W William G and George
: --sGoweG to ea-al advantages