86 HORSEMANSHIP. 



a mistake or refuse. Such a horse will certainly teach the 

 novice how to ride him^ and will, at the same time, greatly 

 assist him in riding others. If a man aims at becoming a 

 thorough workman over a country, either to hounds or 

 "between the flags," he must learn to ride across any shire 

 in the United Kingdom, from Fife to Cornwall, from 

 Donegal to Cork, and on every variety of horse from the 

 galloping, long-striding, thoroughbred of the Shires to the 

 thick-set blood " big-little-'un," suited to the mountains of 

 the Principality or the forest of Exmoor. He will soon learn 

 the difference between negociating a light-flying country and 

 a deep-holding or rough one, between an open and an 

 enclosed one. 



Before the rider attempts jumping he should have 

 acquired a good firm close seat, well down into the saddle, 

 centaur-like. He should have no hankering after cobbler's 

 wax, no inclination to part company with his horse, despite 

 rearings, plungings, kickings, swervings, and such-like re- 

 prehensible performances. In these pages I have had 

 occasion to refer to the balance-seat, for without balance 

 there can be no really elegant horsemanship, but the 

 necessary grip of the saddle must not be sacrificed. Those 

 who attempt to ride over fences by balance alone will find 

 they have as much as they can well do to maintain their 

 seat over a rasper, especially if there be a drop at landing ; 

 and a sudden swerve or decided refusal will most likely 

 entail a dissolution of partnership. I must stipulate for the 

 rider being perfecty at home in the saddle, for to ride 

 properly at and over a fence, to land cleverly, and to get 

 away again speedily, he must feel the mouth with the 

 proverbial " pack-thread " rather than with the leather rein, 

 and to give his horse room and liberty to collect himself 

 before taking; off — the hands must be divorced from the seat. 



