112 HOESES AND RIDING. 



take it alone to a moderately sized hedge and ditch. 

 Then let him put half-a-crown between each leg and 

 the saddle, wherever he thinks best, and tie his reins 

 with a bit of packthread to the breastplate, so that 

 they will not fly over the horse's head when he jumps, 

 and then let him see if he can take his horse up to the 

 fence and jump him over it with his hands in his 

 pockets without dropping the half-crowns. If he 

 cannot do this, or if his horse will not allow him to 

 do this, both he and his horse have still something to 

 learn . 



My readers must not think that if they cannot 

 do this they are not good riders. Very many good 

 riders could not do it. I only give this as a speci- 

 men of what a good horseman can teach himself and 

 his horse to do. If a horse will trot up to a fence 

 with his head perfectly loose, and then jump it and 

 go on without galloping ofiP, he is tolerably perfect, 

 but I do not think there are many horses who 

 will, and this chiefly because they have never been 

 taught to do so. 



The first thing after teaching a horse to go pro- 

 perly on a road, that is required to make a hunter of 

 him, is to teach him to jump ; and here their educa- 

 tion is generally defective. Horses often, after this 

 part of their education is supposed to be completed, 

 behave as follows. 



Before getting to a fence they quicken their pace 

 very much, and when within a certain distance they 



