Chapter 16

FENCES, COUNTRY AND GATES.

From a hunting point of view, the chief value of fences lies in the fact that they retard the hounds more than the horses, and help the foxes to save their brushes. On arable land, fences as a rule are used merely as boundaries; but on grazing land, they are needed to prevent stock from roving beyond their assigned limits. Hence, in a grass country, the obstacles are generally much more difficult to negotiate than on tilled ground. Also, the nature of grazing stock demands variation in the stiffness and height of the fences, which, in the Midlands, have to restrain the migratory propensities of frisky young bullocks; but in dairy-farming counties like Cheshire, much smaller and weaker ones amply serve their purpose in acting as barriers to placid bovine matrons.

Farmers in the Shires have found that hawthorn hedges make the most serviceable fences under old time regulations. When these hedges are allowed to grow in a natural manner, they take the form of a bullfinch (Fig. 90), which, though impossible at many places, often leaves a gap at others. Consequently, bullfinches are gradually going out of fashion in the Shires, and are generally converted into cut-and-laid fences, of which there is an example in Fig. 106. This alteration is usually made in winter, and is effected by cutting with a bill-hook about half way through the small trunks of the hawthorn shrubs, turning them to the left, and interlacing their tops and their branches, as we may see in Fig. 107, which shows us the appearance Fig. 106 presented during its construction. A cut-and-laid is usually about 3 feet 9 inches high, and is the wrong kind of obstacle to "chance," because it is very stiff. Some hunting people who know very little about country life, call a cut-and-laid fence a "stake-and-bound fence," which (Fig. 108) is an artificial barrier made by putting a row of stakes in the ground and twisting brushwood between them. Stake-and-bound fences are common in Kent, and are not nearly so dangerous to "chance" as a cut-and-laid, because the ends of their stakes are only stuck in the ground. The practice of cutting and laying hedges is so general in the Midlands, that we rarely see a bullfinch which does not show signs of having been tampered with in this manner. Even the height to which the hawthorn bushes in Fig. 90 have attained, does not entirely conceal the traces left by the bill-hook, some years before this photograph was taken.

Posts and rails are often used in the Shires to strengthen decrepit fences (Fig. 109), and to take their place when no hawthorn bushes are present (Fig. 110). Their difficulty of negotiation is naturally increased by the presence of a ditch on the taking off or landing side, as in Fig. 111. As a rule, they are about 3 feet 6 inches high. A not uncommon form of posts and rails is a Midland stile (Fig. 112). A familiar combination of a hedge and posts and rails is an oxer (Fig. 113). The gap in this illustration has been repaired by wire, and I am much indebted to the ox who kindly allowed us to take his portrait, as well as the fence which owes its name to his family.

Although the Whissendine is a prominent feature of the Cottesmore country near Stapleford Park, I need not dwell upon brooks as a form of hunting obstacle in the Shires, for they are seldom jumped; not from faintheartedness on the part of riders, but because the ground on the taking-off or landing side is often treacherous, and the presence of posts and rails or wire on one or both of the banks is a frequent occurrence. Also, the width of these brooks and bottoms varies greatly according to the amount of rainfall. People whose experience of leaping is limited to that of fences on firm and level ground, like those in a jumping competition, are naturally apt to overlook the severe manner in which a hunter is handicapped when coming up to an unknown fence, after a long and fast run through heavy, rough and hilly ground.

Wire (Fig. 114) is terribly common in some parts of the Shires, and often makes any attempt to ride straight impossible. In countries where it is prevalent, speed is a much more valuable attribute of a hunter than cleverness in jumping, because the main object of the rider will then be, as a rule, to get over fields and through gates with a minimum of "lepping." Some of our Colonial sisters might taunt us for not trying to leap wire in the brave manner done by Miss Harding (Fig. 102) and other New Zealand and Australian horsewomen, but their conditions of country are entirely different from ours. In the Shires, for instance, wire, as a great rule, is visible only from one side of the fence which it contaminates, and often takes the form of a concealed trap. Hence it is carefully avoided both by horses at grass and by riders.

My husband tells me that banks, stone walls and "stone gaps" are the chief fences in Ireland; that hedges are seldom encountered, except in the form of furze on the top of banks; and that he has rarely seen posts and rails in his native land. While enjoying a very pleasant visit last winter with Mr. Arthur Pollok, the Master of the East Galway Hounds, he took the photographs of Figs. 115 to 120. Fig. 115 shows a broad bank about 4 feet high, with a deep ditch on each side, and a tall man standing on the top of it, so as to give an idea of its dimensions. Fig. 116 is a side view of Fig. 115. In Fig. 117, Mr. Pollok, who is also tall, is standing beside a higher and more upright bank which has the usual accompaniment of broad ditches. In Fig. 118, the very popular Master of the East Galway is close to a typical Galway stone wall of the "cope and dash" order and close on 5 feet in height. This formidable obstacle derives its name from the fact that the stones on its top are firmly cemented together by a dash of mortar. The Masters, hunting men, hunting ladies, and horses of the East Galway and Blazers think nothing of "throwing a lep" over a cope and dash of this kind. Ordinary second flighters in the Shires would probably prefer the Galway "loose stone wall" depicted in Fig. 119 or the small bank shown in Fig. 120. He also tells me that although there is wire in East Galway, it is used only for fencing-in large spaces of ground, and as it stands out alone by itself, it is no source of danger to horse or rider. My husband returned to Crick delighted with the people in County Galway, especially because, when he went out hunting, almost everyone of the small field, both ladies and men, seeing that he was a stranger, were glad to meet him, and went up and spoke to him in a very friendly manner. Over there, hunting is evidently a sport, and not a social function.

Fig. 121, which was very kindly taken from the top of Yelvertoft Church for this book by the Rector of that nice parish, gives a good idea of the country over which we hunt in Northamptonshire. In that county, the grass fields are smaller and the country more wooded than in Leicestershire, which has the inestimable advantage of possessing so many bridle paths, that people who hunt in it have very little road tramping to do. Even that trying infliction is mitigated to some extent in most parts of the Shires, by the presence of grass on the sides of country roads, as in Fig. 122.

When hunting in England, gates are hardly ever jumped, for two very good reasons. First, because it would take a Manifesto or a Cloister to negotiate a series of them safely during a long run; and second, because the habit of leaping gates would be almost certain to unfit a horse for the task of steadily going through the various phases of opening and shutting these means of ingress and egress. Besides, gates are often in such positions, as regards taking off and landing, that it would be impossible to fly them safely, even if the way were clear of hunting companions, which is seldom the case in large fields. Every horsewoman should remember that nothing is more apt to spoil a horse than allowing a brace of alternative ideas to occupy his mind at the same time. Hence, when a hunter sees a gate during a run, his thoughts should be solely occupied in doing his best to aid his rider to open, get through and shut it, or hold it open, if necessary.

Gates, as a rule, may be divided into five-barred gates (Fig. 123) and bridle gates (Fig. 124). Variety in gates is chiefly limited to their form of fastening, which is generally on the left-hand side of the rider when the gate opens towards her (Figs. 125, 126 and 127); and on her right-hand side, when it opens away from her (Fig. 129). In Fig. 125, we see the old-fashioned wooden latch. In Fig. 126, the spring latch has to be pulled towards the hinges of the gate; and in Fig. 127, away from them. In the double gate shown in Fig. 128, the upper fastening consists of a moveable D; the lower one being a very common supplementary latch, which in Fig. 129, is cunningly secured by a curved piece of iron that renders the gate impossible to be opened, except by a person on foot. Another form of craft that we sometimes encounter, is an arrangement by which the gate hangs so heavily on its latch, that the would-be passer-through has to lift up the gate before he or she can open it, and often at an expenditure of strength of which many women are incapable. To perform this feat, a rider would of course have to dismount, which would be very awkward, if a lady was by herself. I have met gates of this annoying description on bridle paths on which the public have a right-of-way.

A gate is opened either with the hand or hunting crop, the former being more efficient than the latter, if the latch is within reach, which would seldom be the case if the rider was on a tall horse. When the fence at the side of the fastening of a gate is low enough to allow the rider to place her horse's head over it, she usually can, by doing so, open the fastening by whip or hand, draw the gate back or push it forward, as the case may be, and pass through. If the hedge at the side of the fastening is too high for this to be done, she will have to place herself alongside the gate, with the horse's tail towards the hinges, and then open the latch, by means of the hand (with or without a whip) which is next to the latch. If the gate opens away from her, she may have to push it forward by hand or crop, unless she is on a well instructed animal, who will be always ready to save her this trouble, by pushing the gate open with his breast. If the gate opens towards her, the horse should be so trained, that when she has undone the latch, and has begun to draw the gate towards her, he will turn his hind quarters round (make a _pirouette renversee_, as the French call it), move his fore quarters a little to one side, so as to get them clear of the gate, and pass through, the moment he sees that his rider has opened the gate sufficiently for him to perform that final manoeuvre. For instance, if a mounted lady wants to get through the gate shown in Fig. 126, she should pull back the latch with her right hand (with or without a whip), and on drawing the gate towards her, the horse should bring his hind quarters round to the left; move his fore legs a little to the left; and, if need be, rein back a step or two, so as to be in the proper position to move forward, as soon as he has plenty of room to do so. As a lady has not a leg on each side of her mount, to enable her to turn his hind quarters to whichever side she likes, she will have far more difficulty than a man in teaching a horse these very useful movements. At the same time, when a horse is anxious to get through a closed gateway, as he will generally be when his head is turned towards his stable, he will very quickly learn how to ably assist his rider in this process.