In a long and
fast run your horse may, of course, fail you. That must depend on
his power and his condition. But, presuming your horse to be able
to go, keeping with hounds is not difficult when you are once
free from the thick throng of the riders. And that thick throng
soon makes itself thin. The difficulty is in the start, and you
will almost be offended when I suggest to you what those
difficulties are, and suggest also that such as they are even
they may overcome you. You have to choose your line of riding. Do
not let your horse choose it for you instead of choosing it for
yourself. He will probably make such attempts, and it is not at
all improbable that you should let him have his way. Your horse
will be as anxious to go as you are, but his anxiety will carry
him after some other special horse on which he has fixed his
eyes. The rider of that horse may not be the guide that you would
select. But some human guide you must select. Not at first will
you, not at first does any man, choose for himself with serene
precision of confident judgment the line which he will take. You
will be flurried, anxious, self-diffident, conscious of your own
ignorance, and desirous of a leader. Many of those men who are
with you will have objects at heart very different from your
object. Some will ride for certain points, thinking that they can
foretell the run of the fox.
Pages:
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80