ii2 RIDING 



When the horse jumps the bar in the school to the satis- 

 faction of his rider, he should be taken out of doors, again put 

 on the cavesson and led over small fences, including ditches or 

 in fact whatever of a moderate kind comes in the way, taking 

 the larger ones by degrees, until he gets used to jumping what- 

 ever sort of fence he may be asked, and does it kindly and 

 safely. He should then be ridden over the jumps, beginning 

 with the small ones first, and then going on again to the larger 

 ones ; any experienced rider can tell when he has got his horse 

 over about as much as he is able to compass, and he should 

 then be satisfied. There are no doubt times when from excite- 

 ment a horse will get over places that he would not attempt 

 in his cooler moments, or his rider think of asking him to try, 

 but in teaching the young horse the rider should be careful not 

 to ask him to do more than he can do with comparative ease. 

 No hard and fast rule can be laid down as regards the pace at 

 which the horse is to be ridden at any of his fences. This is a 

 matter best left to the discretion of the rider, according as to 

 whether his horse is a free or a slovenly jumper, so long as he 

 avoids rushing, but it should be held as a rule not to ride too 

 fast at stiff timber, or too slow at water ; also when riding over 

 hedges and ditches the pace should be a little faster when the 

 ditch is on the landing side than it is when it is on the taking- 

 off side. On the cavesson is thought by many to be a better way 

 of teaching a young one to jump dismounted than driving him 

 by a long pair of reins from behind, as is much practised in 

 Ireland. It would obviously require a most extraordinarily 

 active man to follow a horse if he jumped freely over small 

 fences without stopping him the moment he landed, whereas 

 on the cavesson and about fifteen yards of rein a man of average 

 activity can pretty nearly get over small fences with the horse, 

 and by letting the cavesson rein out need not interfere with 

 him immediately after jumping. 



