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. CHAPTER XVIII. THE CONDITION OF HUNTERS. As the value of most of the foregoing suggestions as regards a lady riding to hounds is more or less dependent upon the form and condition in which the horse destined to carry her in the chase is put, I trust a few words upon this important subject may be acceptable. In the first place, then, experience proves that the getting of a horse into really good condition is a work of considerable time, and that when once the animal has arrived at the desired point of physical health which will enable him to make the most of his powers, as a rule, it is considered to the last degree undesirable that anything should be done to throw him out of his form.