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 habituÉs 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.