235 



CHAPTER VII. 

 TEACHING HORSES TO JUMP. 



General instruction Jumping faults The hunter The chaser The hurdle 

 racer The show-jumper Time required to teach a horse to jump. 



GENERAL INSTRUCTION. 



ALTHOUGH I strongly advocate the practice of giving a 

 horse his first saddle lessons in a small enclosure, such 

 as a riding-school, I think it is advisable for the hunter 

 or chaser to obtain all his jumping instruction in a field 

 or other open place, work in which would be less liable 

 to get him into a " cramped " style of fencing than in 

 a manege. The tendency of horses to become routine, 

 to which I shall make further allusion on page 263, is often 

 well shown in jumping. Hence, I would advise, that 

 practice over a particular line of fences should be restricted, 

 in the case of an intended hunter, to teaching him the 

 necessity of clearing them, and that his subsequent schooling 

 should, as far as possible, be over strange obstacles. I 

 have known some animals become so " tricky " from 

 being frequently ridden over the same jumps, that they 

 would not negotiate a new one, however small, without 

 a refusal or two. The less plucky a horse is, the more 

 inclined will he be to acquire this very grave fault. It is 

 comparatively easy to teach a horse an effective, though 

 " sticky " style of timber jumping ; but it is difficult 



