CHAPTER IV
If no one is too good to be a Master of Foxhounds, it is certain that no one is too good to be a Huntsman, be he professional or amateur. A man who can combine in his own person the many qualities that are the essential attributes of a first-class Huntsman is indeed difficult to find. Considering what a very important part the Huntsman plays in the lives of so many people, it is open to doubt whether we take enough pains to attract talent into the service, or whether we take enough trouble to train such talent as we have. In almost every important profession save that of service with Hounds, there is some definite standard of technique, some school for students where only the best is taught, some theatre where the best men can be seen at their work. The doctor, the actor, the lawyer, the painter, not to mention many others, can all study their art from the written and spoken lessons of recognized authorities, and, better still, can actually see the first-class artist performing, and copy him if they can. But the opportunity for Hunt-servants to acquire knowledge is haphazard and fortuitous: a boy may grow grey in the service of Fox-hunting without even seeing Hounds properly handled or Foxes scientifically killed. This disability is unavoidable, but there it is. Unavoidable because the young servant may be limited to the observation of a Huntsman who may be setting him a bad example at the most impressionable time of his life. Lucky is the youth who stays long enough in one place where the orthodox system is carried out.
Many people will say that Huntsmen are born and not made. This, like many other generalizations, is only partly true. No doubt some men have more talent for the chase than others; but talent cannot afford to dispense with knowledge. The French character would almost appear to have welded the experiences of the hunting-field into a definite, perhaps even an elaborate science, thus creating a recognized school which must surely be valuable to the student. The British are perhaps more impatient of detail, not overfond of an academy, so, beyond certain rather vague traditions, and one or two writings that will be referred to in a later chapter, the young Huntsman in this country has nothing much to guide him but his power of receptivity and his ability to profit by his own mistakes. There is no doubt that personal experience is the best teacher. But personal experience would be quickened if it could be fortified by the experience of the great Masters of the chase collected in such a form as to be accessible to us all.
Now to our Huntsman. Within reason it is not essential that he should be so very young and so very light. This does not mean to say that he should be old and heavy. But as a general rule it is not likely that a man will have absorbed enough knowledge to be a successful Huntsman until he is well past thirty. At this age there is the best part of twenty good years in front of him if only he knows how to ride, even if his horses have to carry as much as a “light fourteen stone.” If they are asked to carry more than this, the task of mounting him in some countries would become formidable, possibly prohibitive. But we must not forget that a light-weight who does not know how to ride will get to the bottom of his horse, while a middle-weight who sits still and keeps hold of his horse’s head will beat him every time. His very limitations will have taught the middle-weight, if he has any sense, not to take liberties with his horses, while the superior momentum of a middle-sized horse and rider will enable them to brush aside obstacles and get through the dirt with less exertion than a feather-weight couple. If the verdict on the whole is in favour of the middle size in man and horses, it is certainly in favour of the middle size in Hounds, which aspect of hunting will be dealt with in a later chapter.
But whatever the Huntsman weighs, there is no doubt that he should be a good horseman. This postulate is not purely utilitarian. It is not too much to say that unless he is a good horseman he is not likely to be a good Huntsman, because to be a good horseman involves the possession of that knowledge of and sympathy with animals that is an essential portion of all true woodcraft, particularly the woodcraft of the Huntsman, the main purpose of which is to influence the intelligence of animals for the amusement of man. If things do not go smoothly between a Huntsman and his horse, you may be sure that he has missed a part of that understanding of his raw material which must be the main characteristic of the successful exercise of his profession. And if he does not understand one part of his raw material, the Horse, he will not be likely to have a temperament to understand the other two, the Hound and the Fox; and of these two the proper understanding of the Hound is of the first importance. The Hounds and not the Huntsman have to find, hunt, kill, and eat the Fox. The frame of mind of a Huntsman towards his Hounds should be inspired and governed by the principle that his duty is only to render them such services as they cannot perform for themselves, and never to interfere with them for any other purpose. Hence, roughly speaking, the two dominant ideas of the Huntsman should be to bring his Hounds into the Field in tiptop condition, and having got them away close to their Fox, not to go near them when they lose the scent, until they obviously feel the want of him, or unless he can give them some definite piece of information which they cannot obtain for themselves. Even this must be done with great judgement and skill if the doing of it involves the dangerous expedient of getting their heads up.
Condition is the key to success. If the question were asked, “What shows most sport and kills most Foxes?” the magic word “condition” would be a safe answer. A moderate-looking lot of Hounds will catch more Foxes than all the Peterborough winners put together if they are in better condition. Authorities may not quite agree as to the exact methods by which the requisite fitness can best be gained and kept. Some will advocate more summer exercise than others, and every one may not see eye to eye as to the amount of covering there should be on the Hounds’ ribs at the beginning of Cub-hunting. The feeding demands primary attention. There is good ground for supporting the rule that the quantity of food should be reduced in the summer rather than the quality. In some Kennels the thick oatmeal and flesh that is, or ought to be, served during the hunting season is watered down. This must surely be a mistake. Solids are the natural sustenance of dogs. They will no doubt swallow gallons of slush if they cannot get anything else, but as it does not stay by them, it is doubtful if it does them any good, and it is really wasted. It is true that when they are not working under high pressure they will require less food; but it is good policy in the summer to let the consistency remain thick as in the winter, and to give them less of it, with the addition of some boiled greens or nettles. Hounds should also be halted at summer exercise where the young grass is long, and they will soon obey the dictates of nature and clean their digestive organs by eating it. By giving them thick food in a greater or a less amount all the year round, the sound quality of their tissues will be maintained. After a fortnight of slush a Hound will become flabby; his coat, that true index of health, will lack lustre; he will lose his vitality, and his whole system will take weeks to recuperate at the very season of the year when he ought to be fit for long exercise. A Hound’s condition should never be let down below a certain level. It is so much easier to let down than to build up.
The proper feeding of the Hounds has been given the first place in the summer duties of the Huntsman because, with regard to all kinds of stock both human and animal, the main avenue to health is diet. The next thing is exercise. The actual breaking of the young Hounds should be carried out with as little whip as possible. Any more whip than is necessary to ensure obedience is nothing more or less than gratuitous cruelty, which will one day recoil on the head of the person who uses it. If you see a pack of Hounds scatter in different directions with their sterns down whenever a whipper-in gets off his horse, you may be sure that the discipline of that pack has been obtained by sheer severity instead of by firmness, patience, and confidence. All good Foxhounds are highly bred, affectionate, sensitive creatures, and will not give you of their best if they are actuated by fear. Our forefathers apparently relied on the terror of the whip more than we do. Perhaps the years that have gone by have bred into the modern Foxhound a hereditary sense of discipline; but there is no doubt that to-day we have a better way. It is true that certain puppies, like certain boys and girls, are all the better for a stroke or two in season. But the instrument should be light and the application rare. Flogging can never be an effective substitute for voice, manner, personality, and the capacity for authority, without which requisites it is better not to enter the service of the Foxhound.
The entry should be exercised separately from the entered Hounds for some weeks, so that the entered Hounds who have already been disciplined may be spared the worry and annoyance occasioned by the drilling of the young ones. Short and gentle horse exercise may begin for both old and young Hounds about six weeks or so after the end of the hunting season, the hours and pace being gradually increased, until the whole pack covers during the month of August from eighty to a hundred miles a week. Some Huntsmen may perhaps advocate even more than this. But it is doubtful if more than a certain degree of fitness can be achieved by summer exercise, and the excessive straining of it may very likely subtract from the vitality of the pack to no useful purpose. The average working life of a Foxhound is so short that it can almost be counted in days; let us therefore not waste a single hour of his energy. In countries where riot is plentiful, Hounds should of course be allowed to see it occasionally during the summer, and firmly, and above all quietly, forbidden to “look” at it. But however steady they may become under supervision in the summer, the last word about riot will not be said until they have killed several brace of Foxes. The blood of the Fox is the true antidote to the pursuit of the hare and the deer. Hounds will soon learn what animal they are brought out to hunt.
