STEEPLECHASE RIDING. 439 



when approaching them. He should, however, avoid, unless 

 obliged to do so, hitting the horse with the whip when in the 

 act of jumping, as the sight of it is apt to distract his 

 attention, and may make him blunder over the fence, or 

 refuse, which he can easily do when the rider has only one 

 hand on the reins. Pressure of the legs and the voice 

 should always be used as a stimulus in preference to the 

 spurs ; and the spurs, to the whip. It sometimes happens, 

 however, that in the last stride we instinctively feel that the 

 horse is not going to jump big enough, whereupon our heels 



Fig. 249. Beecher's Brook (6th and 22nd fence). 



close, or our whip comes down in response to the thought 

 which flashes in a moment through our brain. These im- 

 pulses have not always a good result with horses which 

 have a " pain in their temper." A jockey should not 

 allow a horse which is liable to refuse, to imagine, because 

 the rider sits quietly and appears to trust to his honour, 

 that he can stop or run out with impunity, for although all 

 horses know when their rider funks, some of them seem to 

 assume that he does so when such is not really the case. 

 Most horses jump best when they are steadied a little, say 

 about forty or fifty yards from their fences, and are then 

 allowed to go their own pace at them. I am, of course, here 



