242 JUMPING. 



It is well to make the fences stiff or unpleasant (by the 

 use of gorse, for instance) to hit, so as to teach the pupil 

 not to chance them. Two or three lessons of this sort will 

 be sufficient to make the generality of horses clever enough 

 to carry a rider in good style. The horse should then be 

 saddled, a man or boy put up, without giving him at first 

 any reins to hold, and the horse driven over the fences as 

 before. When the breaker finds that the animal jumps as 

 well with the man in the saddle as he did without him, he 

 may take off the long reins, put on the ordinary ones, and 

 hand them to the rider, who should then take the horse 

 over the fences as before ; the breaker using the crack of 

 the whip, as a stimulus, if required. The rider should not 

 be given spurs, unless he is a fine horseman, and unless 

 the horse requires them to make him more lively ; but 

 not as a means for overcoming any reluctance he may 

 have to jumping, which should be accomplished in the 

 manner I have laid down. 



A horse should not be jumped if he is at all sore on his 

 legs or feet. 



One great advantage, among many others, of teaching a 

 horse to jump in the way I have detailed is that, by circling 

 and turning the animal in front of the fences, we can cure 

 him of all impetuosity caused by their proximity, and at 

 the same time make him willing to jump, with thorough 

 light-heartedness, the moment he receives the indication 

 from the rein to go straight and to clear the obstacle. We 

 can easily understand that such training is particularly 

 valuable for the hunter. 



After the animal has learned all we can teach him in the 

 breaking field, he should be schooled over a " natural " 

 country ; and after he has learned to take his own " line " 

 and jump cleverly in " cold blood," he may be considered 

 qualified to go in " company." 



