The Horse, as Comrade and Friend 



plan that has for its special object the elimina- 

 tion of every tendency to refuse any jump 

 at which he is put. Never, in his training, put 

 a horse at a jump which is at all Hkely to pro- 

 duce a refusal. You must use your best 

 judgment in this matter. In jumping, as in 

 everything else, you must use the system of 

 little steps, by which you will know to a cer- 

 tainty what is, and what is not — ^for the time 

 being — within your horse's capacity. Always 

 make the lessons quite short, so that, during 

 the training, the horse is never tired. If he 

 gets tired, the conceit that the jumping is a 

 treat and reward will fade from his mind, and 

 the risk of a refusal begins to increase in direct 

 ratio to the increase of his fatigue. Moreover, 

 jumping brings into play an entirely fresh 

 lot of muscles, and the strains must be put 

 upon them quite gradually in order that these 

 muscles may develop to their maximum pro- 

 portions and tenacity of fibre without risk of 

 sprain or rupture. For all these reasons go 

 quite slow, and stick to the system of Httle 

 steps. Festina lente, every time. By so doing 

 you make the quickest progress, and avoid 

 any risk of failure. Whatever is worth doing 

 at all, is always worth doing in the very best 

 possible way. 



In the matter of his first learning to jump, 

 let a horse always think that he is doing aU the 

 thinking himself. It improves his brain and 



147 



