A Warm Heart and a Cool Head. 1 49 



safely ridden at an obstacle with one hand, why 

 use two ? If a man is astride a horse who must 

 be steered, let him use both. If he can teach his 

 horse to be true at his jumps with but one hand, 

 both will have gained a point, and be one hand 

 better off. For two hands may be used at any 

 time, if called for. 



A sound and vigorous horse, who has been 

 properly taught to jump, will take anything which 

 he feels that his rider himself means to go over. 

 If you want utterly to spoil your Nelly, ride her 

 at things you yourself feel uncertain about clear- 

 ing. She will quickly find out your mood from 

 your hands. The only rule for keeping your 

 mare true to her work is never to ride at any- 

 thing which you have not made up your mind to 

 carry her over. Be true to yourself in your am- 

 bition to jump, and Nelly will be true to you. It 

 is usually the horses that have been fooled by un- 

 certain hearts and tremulous hands who fail you 

 at the critical moment, or who have to be steered 

 over their fences. So long as your horse has 

 jumping ability, and you have a "warm heart and 

 a cool head," you can go anywhere. 



A generation ago no one was ashamed of even 

 letting his right arm fly up now and then, for it 

 was not in olden times the extremity of " bad 

 form " which it is now pronounced to be. Look 

 over Doyle or Leech for proof of this. But the 



