214 BREAKING AND RIDING 



very often — with marvellous agility. They get 

 over the big fences with a skimming break-neck 

 dash, and the distance is rarely more than three 

 miles. But out hunting, matters are quite dif- 

 ferent. The going is often much heavier, the 

 time is extremely long — hours instead of minutes. 



This, however, is a subject on which men who 

 are fond of riding " blood 'uns," incapable of 

 carrying them, are very touchy on. Being un- 

 willing to believe that they are actually straining 

 a game "blood 'un," they continue to believe that 

 pluck is asked to set natural laws at defiance. 

 Look at the heaviest impost ever allotted to a 

 Grand National horse. You must admit it is too 

 much to give even the best and gamest jumper 

 that was ever foaled. 



Polo -ponies, like steeplechasers, are usually 

 expected to carry more weight than a common- 

 sense sportsman ought to wish them to. There 

 are thoroughbreds who carry thirteen stone with- 

 out seeming to feel it, but they are quite the 

 exception to prove the rule. 



A great deal depends on how carefully a horse 

 is nursed when doing a big run, or any other 

 performance liable to cause a strain of the back 

 tendons. Yet another point worth considering 

 is the make and shape of your mount. Weak 

 pasterns, generally very long and sloping, denote 

 weakness. A narrow chest and tucked-up flanks, 

 a poor measurement round the girth, all point to 

 a speedy breakdown of a blood-weed if forced to 

 carry weight beyond eleven stone at the outside, 

 even when fit. 



