LEAPIXa. 119 



best way to teach a young horse to leap, and was 

 told that the proper way to teach a horse to leap was 

 to ride him along the road ; and this I found to be 

 sound advice, for often when a horse refuses a fence, 

 if you were to ride him four or five miles on the 

 road, and then come back and try him again, he 

 would jump it ; and the next time you wanted him 

 to jump he would do it much better and quicker than 

 if you had kept him at the place in the first instance 

 and forced him to jump it. 



Similarly, the best way to train a horse to follow 

 the hounds is to jump him over fences quietly at 

 home. 



A horse that has been taught to leap in this way 

 will be better to ride than one which has learnt in 

 the hunting field, for this reason, that he will have 

 acquired the habit of going by himself, and will not 

 hang-to or want to follow other horses ; whereas, if 

 he has learnt out hunting, he will always want to go 

 where the rest go, and some day you will get into a 

 lane or road and not be able to get out of it again, 

 and have to go galloping down it for a mile because 

 a lot of other people are doing so, and your horse 

 won't leave them ; whereas, if your horse is taught 

 to go by himself, he will jump out just as readily 

 whether the rest do so or not. 



Another very bad thing is to check your horse 

 suddenly or stop him when he has jumped a fence, 

 either on landing or immediately after landing. 



The first of these, ' checking your horse on land- 



