CHAPTER VIII. 



JUMPING. 



ALL horses intended for saddle uses should 

 be taught to jump willingly and confi- 

 dently. The usual practice of chasing a mounted 

 horse over a long bar by the threatening motions 

 of a lashed whip held by an assistant cannot 

 accomplish that which a horseman should desire. 

 A horse " trained " in such a manner is not only 

 very apt to become a " refuser," but it is so 

 hurried and excited that it is impossible that it 

 should jump with precision and safety. I teach 

 my horses to jump over an obstacle so narrow 

 that the temptation to avoid it by going off to 

 one side or the other is offered, and when it once 

 is disciplined to go directly for the obstacle, the 

 idea of refusing a possible jump, or of running 

 out, does not present itself to the animal's mind. 

 One of the gates I use with trained horses is but 

 fourteen inches wide, and this is taken, without 

 an effort to avoid it, by a horse which was the 

 most difficult to discipline of any of the animals 



