Jumping 273 



will be found that he will jump by merely being led 

 up to the fence, the reins in this case being knotted 

 to shorten them and left on the animal's neck. A 

 mouthful of corn or a carrot should be the reward 

 for each performance. 



As soon as the horse jumps readily with a man on 

 his back, wings should be dispensed with. This is 

 important, as the horse is thus taught that he must 

 take the place selected by his rider, and that he is 

 under complete control. After a sound preparation, 

 there is no better practice for the young horse than 

 taking him slowly across country, at first over gaps, 

 then over low fences ; and if some of them have a 

 bad take-off, so much the better. 



To make the animal safe and certain over timber 

 and water requires systematic training, too often 

 neglected in England, to the detriment of the horse's 

 market value. It has always seemed to me that the 

 difficulty timber presents to a young horse is owing 

 to the fact that the lowest bar is some way off the 

 ground, so that he finds nothing to guide him in 

 taking off when he looks down to measure the dis- 

 tance. I have discovered that commencing with a 

 guard-rail in front of the obstacle overcomes the 



