THE HUNTING FIELD (_continued_).
On reading my previous observations on Fox-hunting, it may occur to many
ladies that in order to enjoy the sport, great nerve and physical power,
as well as a thorough knowledge of the principles of equitation and long
practice, are indispensable, and that in default of either of the above
qualifications they ought not to venture into the field. This, however,
would be an extreme view of the case. It is quite true that to go
straight to hounds and take the country and the fences as they come it
is necessary that a lady should be in vigorous health, as well as a
thoroughly accomplished horsewoman. But, grant the latter condition,
those of even more delicate constitutions, and consequently lacking the
nerve and strength to take a front-rank place and keep it, may still
participate to a great extent in all the enjoyable and healthy
excitement of the chase, if they follow it out in a grass country, and
put themselves under the guidance of a man who knows that country well.
It cannot be too generally known to those who are not strong enough to
sail away with the hounds over big fence or yawning brook that one great
advantage as regards hunting afforded by a grass country is that a lady
who is attended by a man well up at the topography of the district can
generally find her way through easily opened bridle gates from point to
point, from whence, throughout the best part of even a long day, she can
witness and enjoy the sport, although she is not with the hounds; and
this without pounding on the macadam and shaking her horse's legs; for
all our Leicestershire roads are set, as it were, between borders of
green velvet in the hunting season. All that is necessary to a most
enjoyable day (if it is fine) is a horse that can get over the ground
in tiptop form--a good bred one that can gallop and stay. On such a
one, lots of grand hunting may be seen if it cannot be done by even a
timid lady who dare not essay jumping.
Turning, however, from the delicate and timid to those whose health and
physique enable them to hold their own in the front rank, I venture to
point out a possible casualty that may happen in hunting, which,
although not of frequent occurrence, may easily be attended with
dangerous results if the fair rider with hounds is unacquainted with the
means of counteracting it. I allude to the possibility of a horse in
crossing a ford, where the stream is rapid and the bottom uneven, losing
his footing. I have seen this occur more than once, both to good men and
to ladies, and the result was not only an immersion over head and ears,
but considerable danger as well. This is easily to be prevented, as
follows: The fact of a horse losing his footing in deep water is at once
apparent by his making a half plunge, and commencing to swim, which
instinct teaches him to do directly he feels that he is out of his
depth. At such a moment, if the rider confines the horse, he will
inevitably roll over in his struggle. The great thing, therefore, on
such an occasion is at once to give him his head, quitting the curb rein
entirely, and scarcely feeling the snaffle, "while any attempt to guide
the horse should be done by the slightest touch possible" (see "Aid
Book"). The reins should be passed into the right hand, with which,
holding the crop also, the rider should take a firm hold of the upper
crutch of the saddle. She should, at the same time, with her left hand
raise her skirt well up, disengage her left leg (with the foot, however,
still in the stirrup), and place it _over the third crutch_. By these
means she will avoid any risk of the horse striking her on the left heel
with his near hind hoof, which otherwise in his struggle he would be
almost certain to do. If a horse is left to himself he will swim almost
any distance with the greatest ease, even with a rider on his back; and
there is no more difficulty in sitting on him in the form above named
than in cantering on _terra firma_. It is absolutely necessary, however,
to get the foot--and especially the stirrup--out of the way, otherwise
there is always danger of his entangling himself with them or with the
skirt. When the horse recovers his footing on the bottom he will make
another struggle, but the hold of the right hand upon the pommel will
always preserve the seat of the rider. To be quite safe in such a
predicament is simply a question of knowing what to do, and having the
presence of mind to do it _quickly_. To show that the necessity for
swimming a horse may occur to a lady as well as to a gentleman the
following case, I trust, will suffice.
Many years ago I was riding with a lady from the village of Renteria _en
route_ to San Sebastian, in the north of Spain. The way was round a
couple of headlands, between which was a deep bay, running up to the
hamlet of Lezo. This bay was all fine sand up to some low but rather
precipitous cliffs at the head of the inlet, but at the extremity of
either headland careful riding was requisite by reason of rough rocky
places. On the occasion I allude to the tide was flowing when we rounded
the first point. Having been long accustomed to the place, however, we
both considered that we had ample time safely to turn the other
extremity of the bay; but a lively spring tide, aided by a brisk
north-easterly wind, caused the sea, running in through the narrow gut
of "Passages," to increase in velocity to such an extent that we were
completely out in our reckoning. Seeing the tide gaining rapidly on us,
we set our horses going at top speed over the level sand, racing (as it
were) with the "hungry waters" for the distant point. When we neared it,
however, I saw at once that it was hopeless to attempt rounding it, for
our horses were already above the girths in water, keeping their feet
with difficulty on the level sand, and I knew that to try to keep them
on their legs on the shelving and rocky bottom at the extremity of the
point would result in their rolling over us. There was nothing,
therefore, for it but to try back, endeavour to regain the head of the
inlet, and make the attempt, however difficult, to clamber up the steep
but still sloping face of the cliff. Long before we reached our point,
however, both horses were swimming; but they made scarcely a perceptible
struggle in doing so, as the rising water lifted them from the level
sand bodily off their feet. The lady (who was at first a little
flurried) lost no time in getting her habit and her leg out of the way
of mischief, and quickly regaining her nerve laid fast hold of the
saddle, and laughing, declared it was "capital fun." I confess, on her
account, and that of the horses, I did not think so; but encouraged her
in her fearlessness. We gave the horses their heads, and they struck out
bravely towards the cliff. As soon as they recovered their footing, the
lady, having been previously cautioned to extricate her foot from the
stirrup, slipped off her horse, the water taking her up to her waist. I
lost no time in following her example, and turning the horses loose, we
drove them at the sharp and slippery incline up the hill. Both horses
scrambled up, with no further damage than the breaking of a bridle; but
to get the lady (encumbered as she was with her wet garments) up the
steep hillside was a task I have not forgotten to this day. The face of
the cliff was studded with patches of gorse here and there, which
assisted us certainly at the expense, of my companion, of severely
scratched hands and torn gloves. But the ground was so slippery that our
wet boots caused us continually to slip back, both of us in this respect
being at a great disadvantage with the horses, whose iron shoes and
corkings enabled them to obtain better foothold. Partly, however, by
dragging, partly by cheering the lady to persevere, I succeeded in
gaining the level ground with her, while the sea broke in heavy, noisy
surges below, and sent the spray flying over us. The lady, who had borne
up bravely so far, fainted from reaction when we gained the level sward,
where the horses were grazing quietly, none the worse for their bath.
But there were three stalwart Basque peasants at work hard by, turning
up the soil with their four-pronged iron forks. Their cottage was close
at hand, and having partially revived the fair sufferer, we carried her
to the house, where she received every attention from the padrona, and
no further evil resulted, except scratches and torn garments. But while
I was sensibly impressed with the courage displayed by my companion, who
was a slight, delicate woman, I am quite certain that ignorance of the
right thing to do at the right time would have been fatal to both of us.
As the tide gained so rapidly upon us, had the lady allowed her horse to
flounder or plunge in it, she would inevitably have become entangled
with him and drowned, despite any effort of mine to save her.
I have witnessed many other instances of the facility with which horses
will extricate their riders from difficulties in deep water. Among these
I know none more worthy of record than the following.
Some years ago a large Government transport, conveying troops and
horses, was wrecked at Buffalo, Cape of Good Hope. Among the troops was
a detachment of light cavalry. The ship parted on the rocks, and despite
the efforts of the people on shore, the greater part of the troops
(officers and men) were drowned. An officer of the cavalry party,
however, determined to make an effort to reach the shore, upon which a
heavy sea and tremendous surf were breaking. He launched his horse
overboard, and, plunging quickly after him into the tumbling sea, seized
the horse by the mane, and succeeded in retaining his grasp, while the
plucky and sagacious animal gallantly dragged his master in safety
through the surf.
I repeat, then, Be always on your guard in crossing deep water with a
horse, or in fording a stream where the current is rapid. In India and
other tropical countries the necessity for being able to swim a horse
occurs more frequently than at home; and, in the monsoon time
especially, it behoves everybody who is going a journey on horseback to
be extremely careful how they attempt to cross a swollen stream, as the
freshets come down with such rapidity that I have frequently seen a
horse carried off his legs by the force of the current when the water
has not been more than knee-deep, and, when once the foothold is gone in
such places, it is extremely difficult frequently to find a place at
which to get out again, on account of the precipitous formation of most
of the banks. In any case, however, the above-named directions will be
found effectual, and the horse, if left to himself, will find a landing
place, even if he swims a considerable distance to gain it.
A point of considerable importance as regards hunting also is for ladies
to avoid riding home in open carriages, no matter how fine the weather
may be, or how well they may be wrapped up. Riding _to_ the meet on
wheels is all very well, particularly if the distance is great and by a
cross-country road, and the time short. But, after galloping about
during the greater part of the day, no conveyance home other than her
horse is fit for a lady, except the inside of a close carriage on rail
or road, and a good foot warmer at the bottom of the carriage; and if
there has been much rain, riding home on horseback is by far the safest
plan. I have frequently ridden home sixteen and eighteen miles after
dark with a lady whom I had the honour of escorting on her hunting
excursions, sometimes in very bad weather, and I can safely say that,
rain, snow, or sleet, she never took cold. After leaving the hounds my
first care was always to make for some hospitable farmhouse near the
road, or in default thereof, some decent roadside inn, where we could
have the horse's legs well washed, and the lady's waterproof carefully
put on if there was rain about. I always carried for her a second pair
of dry knee boots, carefully folded up in a waterproof havresack. These
boots were made with cork soles within and without, and, as such boots
are easily carried by any man who pilots a lady (of course I don't mean
the pilot who rides in scarlet), I specially recommend them to
consideration. The most difficult thing after riding a long day's
hunting, in which, now and again, a good deal of it will be in wet
weather, is to keep the feet warm. Throughout all the rest of the system
the circulation may be kept going by the exercise even of slow steady
trotting; but the wet, clammy boot, thoroughly saturated, it may be, by
more than one dash through a swollen rivulet, strikes cold and
uncomfortable in the stirrup iron even to a man, who has a better
opportunity of counteracting it by the use of alcoholic or vinous
stimulants. It is therefore highly conducive to a lady's comfort after
her gallop with hounds, if she has far to go home, to change her boots;
and this, with a little care and foresight on the part of her attendant,
can always be accomplished. With a dry pair of boots, a good waterproof
overcoat, and a cambric handkerchief tied round her neck, a lady may
defy the worst weather in returning from hunting.
A word now about second horsemen, in a country like this, where the
_habitues_ of it know tolerably well, if hunting is to be done in a
certain district, that a fox, given certain conditions of wind, is most
likely to make for certain points, and that if a covert is drawn blank,
the next draw will be in a certain locality, it is not difficult for a
good second horseman to be ready at hand when the lady requires a fresh
charger. But (assuming always that she can afford to have a second horse
out) nothing connected with her hunting requires more discrimination
than the selection of a second horseman. Any quantity of smart,
good-looking, light-weight lads, who can turn themselves out in
undeniable form, and ride very fairly, are always to be had, with good
manners and equally good characters; but one thing requisite is that
they should know every inch of the country they are in. Thus a lad,
however willing, from Scotland or Ireland, would be of very little use
as a second horseman in the midland district of England; and therefore
weight, up to ten stone at all events, is of less consequence than an
intimate knowledge of the topography of the surrounding country.
To have a second horse at the right spot at the right time, and with
little or nothing taken out of him, requires in most cases considerable
foresight and judgment on the part of the lad who is on him, and
therefore a fair amount of intelligence, in addition to careful riding,
is indispensable, as well as natural good eye for country. The different
form in which second horses are brought to the point where they are
required is conclusive as to the foregoing, for one constantly sees two
animals, up to equal weight and in equal condition, arrive at the same
spot, one not fit to go much further, and the other with scarcely the
stable bloom off his coat.