300 STEEPLE-CHASING. 



to hope and suppose that the animal has the makings of a 

 chaser in him, a new system may be tried. 



A small field near the exercise-ground should be devoted to 

 a jumping-school. The school will extend round the four sides 

 of the field, and be enclosed in stout timber partitions a sort of 

 post and rail some ten or twelve feet high, so that no thought 

 of jumping out into the meadow is likely to enter the horse's 

 head. At intervals all round, fences of different sorts are 

 erected. A very simple little hedge comes first, a slightly 

 bigger one is next, and beyond, after the turn has been well 

 made, is a solid wall, built of bricks or stones with a rounded 

 timber top, half the trunk of a tree fixed firmly an obstacle 

 that must be jumped. Beyond this are some posts and rails, 

 and after another turn has been made, just about opposite to 

 the gate by which the horse entered the school, is a single 

 bank ; that is, the ground rises slightly, a ditch is beyond, and 

 there is a drop on the landing side. After this comes a post 

 and rail, which can be made into a double if wanted, and there 

 is besides, just opposite to the single bank, a bank with a ditch 

 on each side, so that the horse must jump on to the top arid 

 off again. 



Into this the pupil is turned riderless ; the gate is shut upon 

 him, and an old horse that knows the business thoroughly starts 

 round the school. A couple of men with whips are posted 

 inside the school they can easily slip out and in, though there 

 is no egress for the horse in case inducement to jump should 

 be needed. It is necessary that these men should be inside, 

 and that they should not stand outside and crack their thongs 

 or touch the learner ; in driving a horse thus over a fence, the 

 man must invariably be behind the animal, and not at the side, 

 as he would be if he whipped through the timber, in which 

 event the pupil would be very likely to run away from the whip, 

 not jump at all, or jump sideways. 



A few turns round the school will make a horse remarkably 

 clever on his legs. There are, it will be seen, fences of all 

 sorts, and they are rather close together, for the field should 



