118 HOESES AXD EIDING. 



very soon frightened, and a frightened liorse soon loses 

 his head, and then is liable to become dangerons. 



If a horse refuses a fence, yonr object should be 

 to prevent him having the fact impressed on his 

 memory, and if you trot him up to two or three 

 small places and stop him, and then go away without 

 jumping them, he will very soon be unable to 

 distinguish between the times when he stopped to 

 please his rider and the times when he stopped to 

 please himself, and in addition to that he will learn 

 to go close up to a fence, without taking it too much 

 for granted that he is invariably to jump it. 



Another very common fault is that people try to 

 teach horses to leap when they are not in a fit state 

 to be taught. A horse should not be taught to leap 

 till he is pro2:)erly broke to ride. 



You can teach them much more and much 

 quicker if you only teach them one thing at a time, 

 than if you try to teach them two things at a time. 



For this reason you ought not to teach a young 

 horse to leap till he has become quiet to ride, and 

 you ought not to teach him to follow the hounds till 

 he has learnt to leap. 



It is a very common practice to take a half- 

 broken horse out to what is called ' sliow them the 

 hounds,' and every time this is done you are really 

 trying to teach them three things at once, and they 

 learn to do all three badly. 



I once asked a very good rider ^ what was the 



^ Mr. Henry Strickland Constable. 



