342 Among Men and Horses. 



to answer it as regards hunters. The usual method of teach- 

 ing a horse to jump by getting on his back and riding him 

 at fences, is so uncertain in its results, so apt to give rise 

 to an accident, and so liable to make a horse fidgety, if not 

 dangerously impetuous, that owners, especially if they be 

 breeders and dealers, naturally object to incurring risks which 

 they can avoid, or which they can make over to the pur- 

 chasers of their animals. The addition of a jumping test 

 would therefore greatly decrease the number of exhibits in 

 the hunter classes, which are accordingly judged solely by 

 their conformation, looks, action and manners. We find, 

 even among old horses which are exhibited as hunters, total 

 ignorance of one of the most essential parts of their work. 

 I feel confident that if the method to which I have previously 

 alluded, of teaching horses to jump cleverly before they were 

 mounted were well known, the objection of exhibitors to a 

 jumping test would speedily vanish. These remarks con- 

 cerning horse shows in no way apply to young horses sold 

 as hunters at Irish fairs, such as those of Ballinasloe or 

 Cahirmee, where sellers are always ready to demonstrate the 

 ability of their animals to ' throw a lep.' Without going into 

 any details, I may remark that the jumping education of 

 hunters should begin before they are older than two 

 years. 



Remembering the intense interest with which the Horse 

 Show at Ball's Bridge was regarded by all classes of persons 

 in Dublin, I could not help being struck with the apathy 

 displayed by Londoners about the May Horse Show of the 

 Royal Agricultural Society at Islington. This great annual 

 event in the English horse world had less space devoted 

 to it in the advertisement columns of the daily and evening 

 papers than any of the theatres or principal music halls ; and 

 those organs of public opinion reported its proceedings more 

 poorly than they did the doings of any of the nightly places 

 of amusement. As far as I could judge, the majority of the 

 small number of people who went to the Agricultural Hall 



