52 Useless Jumping. 



hunting counties, or indeed the ox-fences and 

 grassy fields of Leicestershire, are such as to 

 make a day out a positive pound of pleasure, 

 with scarce an ounce of danger to spice it, if you 

 choose to ride with moderation. For the best 

 rider in the Old Country is not the hare-brained 

 cockney who risks both his horse's and his own 

 less valuable neck in the field ; it is he who 

 chooses discreetly his course, and makes headway 

 with the least exertion to his hunter compatible 

 with his keeping a good place in the field. The 

 man who appreciates how jumping takes strength 

 out of a horse, or who is any judge of pace, is apt 

 to save, not risk him. Few men willingly jump 

 an obstacle which they can readily avoid without 

 too much delay. Read the legends of the famous 

 hunting-men of England, and you will find dis- 

 cretion always outranking valor. Any fool can 

 ride at a dangerous obstacle. Courage of that 

 kind is a common virtue. But it takes a make-up 

 of quite a different nature to be in, as a rule, at 

 the death. How many five-barred gates will a 

 man jump when he can open them .? How much 

 water will he face when there is a bridge near 

 by } Does not every one dismount in hilly coun- 

 tries to ease his horse ? A good rider must be 

 ready to throw his heart over any obstacle possi- 

 ble to himself and his horse, when he cannot get 

 round it. But a discreet horseman puts his horse 



