LEAPING. 117 



time ; but if lie refuses the second time 3^ou never 

 ought to ride him at it a third time. 



If the fence is too big to be jumped standing, he 

 should be taken away and a smaller fence should be 

 selected, but if it can be jumped standing, the rider 

 should try if the horse will do so, by keeping his head 

 to it and just kicking him gently with his heels, letting 

 him take his own time in looking at it and his own 

 way in getting over it. If he will not jump it after 

 a certain time he should be taken away. 



If he jumps it, however awkwardly, he should be 

 allowed to go his own pace half over the next field, 

 and then either pulled up gently or ridden on to the 

 next gate or fence, as the rider wishes. He should 

 not be encouraged or petted as if he had done some- 

 thing wonderful, but it should be taken as a matter 

 of course, and the idea you should try to give the 

 horse is that you wanted to get into the next field, 

 and that in order to do so he had to jump the fence, 

 and that you were going somewhere. 



For this reason it is highly wrong to strike your 

 horse after he has got over the fence, and it is 

 decidedly foolish to turn him round and make him 

 jump back again. A horse soon learns that you want 

 him to get into the next field, but if you strike him 

 when he has got there, he does not know iijhat you 

 want him to do, and if you turn him round and jump 

 back he does not know luhere you want him to go. A 

 young horse is very soonpuzzled, and apuzzledhorse is 



