I30 STEEPLECHASE RIDING. 



with his fencing ; for a pull at his mouth, or a touch of 

 the whip or spurs, at a critical moment, can only tend to 

 make him shorten or lengthen his stride, and, conse- 

 quently, to blunder. If the horse be dangerously im- 

 petuous, he should " drop his hands," speak soothingly 

 to him, and sit as still as possible. If he be liable to 

 chance his fences, and not jump big enough, the jockey 

 should take a good hold of his head and should rouse 

 him when approaching them. He should, however, 

 avoid, unless obliged to do so, hitting the horse with the 

 whip when in the act of jumping, as the sight of it is apt 

 to distract his attention, and may make him blunder over 

 the fence, or to refuse, which he can easily do when the 

 rider has only one hand on the reins. Pressure of the 

 legs and the voice should always be used as a stimulus in 

 preference to the spurs, and the spurs to the whip. It 

 sometimes happens, however, that in the last stride we 

 instinctively feel that the horse is not going to jump big 

 enough, whereupon our heels close, or our whip comes 

 down in response to the thought which flashes in a moment 

 through our brain. These instinctive impulses very rarely 

 lead the experienced rider into error. They are the results 

 of long practice. The jockey should not allow a horse 

 which is liable to refuse, to imagine that he may do so with 



