74 RIDING OVER FENCES. 



on his head, attach to it a couple of strong leading 

 reins or ropes, and give each of them to a couple of men 

 to hold, and to pull the horse, whether he likes it or not, 

 over the fence ; while another man from behind hastens 

 his journey w^ith a whip, to crack though not to punish, 

 beyond a few light touches. Once over, the horse 

 should be mounted and ridden on. I have heard it 

 said, that the steeplechase horse Congress was cured, 

 in this manner, of refusing. We have here the principle, 

 so well exemplified by Rarey, of overcoming opposition 

 by painless though irresistible force. When the animal 

 finds that he has to " give in," and is not ill-treated, he 

 almost always submits with a good grace. 



An excellent and safe way for teaching horses to 

 jump, whether they are inclined to refuse or not, is to 

 make a circular course of not less than five yards broad 

 and about 150 yards in length, and enclose it with high 

 palings, while four or five fences of different kinds — say, 

 a hurdle topped with brushwood, an Irish bank, a stone 

 wall, a water jump, and a post and rails — maybe placed 

 at intervals round it. The horse is then turned loose 

 into this kind of circus, either with or without a leader, 

 and is made to jump with a little persuasion. 



Some horses which are inclined to refuse at particular 



