452 RIDING DIFFICULT HORSES. 



some physical infirmity. Unsoundness in one or both 

 fore legs naturally makes a horse chary of jumping, 

 because of the painful jar which he will receive on 

 landing, when he is obliged to place his entire weight 

 on his fore legs. Then again, if his feet are not in a 

 hard and sound condition, he "funks" the pain of 

 landing over a fence and tries his best to avoid 

 jumping. Many unsound horses, generally hirelings, 

 are hammered along out hunting, especially on roads, 

 with most inconsiderate cruelty. I once tried to hunt 

 on a hireling which, I soon saw, was not in a fit state to 

 carry me without pain. Had I insisted on having my 

 money's worth out of the animal, it would have been 

 nothing short of gross cruelty. His fore legs were 

 bandaged, as is usual with hired mounts, and he 

 galloped and jumped several small fences soundly, as 

 far as I could feel ; but when he came to a 

 rather formidable one, he stopped and tried to 

 rear. I at once found an easier means of egress, 

 which took me for a short distance on a road, 

 and the hard ground of only about 20 yards seemed to 

 tell so much on one leg, that I felt him going decidedly 

 short, pulled him up and walked him home. When I 

 arrived in Melton Mowbray, a lady, the last person in 

 the world whom I would have cared to meet, hailed 

 me with the news that Miss So-and-so had broken her 

 collar-bone, a fact which appeared to give her more 

 pleasure than sorrow, "and you" she said, "have 

 lamed your horse " ! The dealer evidently expected 

 this result ; for when I rode the horse into his yard, 



