248 JUMPING. 



on or cannoning against him. We all know that if a horse 

 will leap in " cold blood," he will fence in hot blood ; but 

 the converse to this in no way holds good. Therefore, 

 I say, teach the horse which one wishes to make into a 

 hunter, to jump faultlessly by himself, and to take what- 

 ever line of country his rider puts him to, before bringing 

 him into the field. 



For a country of stone walls, posts and rails, or double 

 banks, a hunter should be taught to check his speed and 

 collect himself far more than he would require to do in a 

 country of hedges and ditches, like Leicestershire for 

 instance. 



The preliminary breaking of the hunter will take far less 

 time than experience in the hunting field, without plenty 

 of which he cannot be regarded as a safe conveyance over 

 a country. For this reason, hunters of seven or eight years 

 of age are valued in Leicestershire more highly than those 

 of four or five, other things being equal. Supposing that 

 a horse fresh to the game gets five weeks' cub-hunting, 

 and regular hunting from the first Monday in November, 

 at Kirby Gate, to the second Wednesday in April, with the 

 Belvoir ; he will, as a rule, require all that time, with a 

 competent man and an average of three or four days a fort- 

 night, to learn his business. We should initiate the young 

 one very gradually ; should leave him a good deal to his 

 own devices ; should keep him out a long time, say, to the 

 change to second horses, so as to prevent him from becom- 

 ing impetuous ; and, above all things, we should impress 

 upon him the necessity, when put at a fence, of getting to 

 the other side. In order not to disgust him with the work, 

 ne should always be taken home before he is tired. In the 

 Shires, instruction in making him steady when opening 

 gates and when holding them open, is imperative. 



