In the Stable, Field, and on the Road. 67 



saddle, it should be led over with a man on its back for 

 the first time or two, until it thoroughly understands 

 what is wanted of it by its rider. Never put a funky 

 man on a young horse : he is sure to sp oil it and make it 

 refuse its fences ; it is oftener the fault of the man than 

 the horse that it does not jump. You may often hear in 

 the field gentlemen say, "I can't get this brute to jump;" 

 they are generally those that can gallop through a line 

 of gates or down a lane, but cannot get their hearts high 

 enough to take a sheep hurdle. They are like a well- 

 known old sportsman, near Melton Mowbray, who used 

 to hunt up to his eightieth year, and when he came to a 

 flight of rails, would say to his groom, " Tom, knock 

 the top rail off." When that was done, he would say, 

 "Knock another off, and I'll go over if I break my neck.'' 

 These gentlemen somehow or other seem to always 

 get good horses, and when they have them they have 

 not pluck to ride them. Hunters, from the nature of 

 their work, are liable to meet with many injuries from 

 which other horses are exempt, among which are thorns, 

 overreach, blows from rails, and striking one leg against 

 the other when galloping through heavy ground. This 

 is often the cause of splint, one of the most troublesome 

 kinds ot lameness, for the horse is often lame with splint, 

 and being in its incipient form, it does not set up 

 enough local inflammation to enable the unskilful to 

 find out its seat, and many horses are said to be lame in 

 the shoulder when it is an incipient splint below the 

 knee that causes the mischief. Some cases have come 

 under my observation, in which, although the animal 

 has not been able to put its foot to the ground, the 



