HINTS ON HORSEMANSHIP m 



whip may assist him ; a cut from a whip seems to have more 

 effect on a lazy brute than spurs. 



Many people believe in putting a horse down if he is lazy 

 at his jump, and there is no doubt that by giving a horse a 

 fall he takes particular care next time to jump bigger, but there 

 are grave objections to doing this with young ones. They 

 should have plenty of encouragement at first, and not be asked 

 too much, till they are well practised in jumping. 



Although hanging on to a horse's mouth (especially a young 

 one) is about the surest way to prevent him from jumping, or 

 else to pull him on to or into what it is desired by his rider he 

 should get over, yet he should be ridden firmly with hand and 

 leg right up to his leap, and the hands should yield only when 

 the rider is perfectly certain that his horse means to take the 

 leap. One often hears of some one having lifted his horse in 

 a most extraordinary manner over some very extraordinary 

 fence, but how such lifting can be effected is a mystery. One 

 can understand a good horseman having ridden his horse 

 resolutely with hand and legs right up to his fence, and then 

 by closing his legs strongly, or using his whip or spur at 

 the exact moment, stimulating his horse to make his very best 

 effort : but there is no such thing as ' lifting ' him, and there is 

 reason to believe that many people try to persuade themselves 

 they are ' lifting ' their horses, when in reality they are simply 

 holding on to their horse's mouth. 



Refusing, when a horse has once become a good free 

 jumper, is more often caused by nervousness on the part of the 

 rider than by anything else. Most horses, when they have 

 once taken well to jumping, rather enjoy it than otherwise, and 

 even those that are not quite so keen about it seldom take to 

 refusing if they are resolutely ridden, and not asked to jump 

 something that it is impossible for them to get over. A few 

 instances of the rider changing his mind when he has once put 

 his horse's head at a jump will be found to be about the surest 

 plan of turning the best of jumpers into a refuser. 



