HINTS ABOUT SCHOOLING HUNTERS 173 



to walk before it can run, horses must be taught to 

 walk, trot, canter, and gallop before they are taught 

 to jump. Some experience they will have gained in 

 their lunging days, but the rudiments of knowledge are 

 not knowledge. It may seem an anomaly, but we 

 believe that the best schoolmaster a young horse can 

 have in the art of jumping is a horse. How often do 

 we hear in the hunting-field that familiar request, 

 " Give me a lead ! " And if a lead be necessary to the 

 experienced hunter, how much more necessary must it 

 be to the young horse ! The rider can tell a horse to 

 jump, but he cannot show him how to do it. Therefore, 

 in his preliminary lessons at home we advise strongly 

 that the pupil should be accompanied by an old hunter. 

 The spirit to jump in young horses is generally willing, 

 but the confidence is lacking. We both know of, and 

 have heard of, numerous instances of horses whom no 

 amount of persuasion would cause to jump in cold 

 blood, but who never refused in the hunting-field, so it 

 would seem that the force of example will make even 

 an unwilling horse jump. After some three or four 

 weeks in the companionship of the older horse he may 

 be taken out by himself, and larked over small places, 

 but the man on his back must be thoroughly trust- 

 worthy. If these lessons have proved satisfactory by 

 the first or second week in September, the horse 

 will be rising four, and may be taken out cub- 

 hunting. 



What can be the feelings of a horse when he first 

 sees hounds ? Apart from the excitement consequent 

 upon finding himself in a throng of other horses, there 



