RIDING REFUSERS. 71 



cases of laminitis or navicular disease among hunters, 

 and even among successful steeplechase horses. I 

 have known two or three cases of horses which w^ere 

 previously fine, bold fencers, becoming refusers from 

 having over-reached on their back tendons. The harder 

 the ground, the more will any form of unsoundness affect 

 the animal's jumping capabilities. I remember a sad 

 case of a most promising steeple 4iase rider being killed 

 by his horse falling on him over a small fence, simply 

 because the landing was hard, and the animal had bad 

 corns. 



Although the subject of breaking does not come with- 

 in the scope of this work, still, as most of us, when we 

 ride a horse, want him again on some future day, a few 

 remarks on the best method for correcting this vice may 

 not be out of place here. We frequently see the rider 

 of a horse which happens to refuse a fence, take him 

 again and again at it w^hile vigorously plying whip and 

 spur. Each time the animal baulks, he does so with 

 stronger determination than ever not to jump the 

 obstacle. Horses have such retentive memories, and 

 such obstinate wills, when their tempers are fully roused, 

 that a lesson or two of the sort I have described often 

 ruins a horse for life. I recall an instance of a bold and 



