50 HORSES 



steeplechaser, but he must be properly " schooled." 

 When a horse has once learnt to rise at a fence 

 and the right moment to take off, the act of jump- 

 ing is very little more exertion than galloping. 



The moral of all this is, when you go a-hunting 

 don't imagine you are steeplechasing, and when 

 you are performing between the flags, don't think 

 you are riding to hounds. In a run, if you want 

 to make up lost ground, go as fast as you like 

 between the fences, but take a pull before you 

 have to jump. 



This discussion has rather led us away from our 

 subject, which was on thoroughbreds as hunters, 

 but they have one disadvantage ; and that is, being 

 generally thin-skinned, they do not like facing a 

 thorny place which they have to go through. In 

 spite of this drawback my advice is, get all the 

 "blood" you can. Of course, in countries where 

 plough predominates you will not require quite 

 as much breeding, and then again the question of 

 your weight must be considered. 



I am afraid, if my reader has accompanied 

 me thus far, he wall be getting rather tired of 

 the purchase of horses which he may not have 

 to make for several years, but I want to get the 

 right theories into his head, so that he may follow 

 them up by his own observation. 



We will just run through a catalogue of a horse's 

 good points before we close the subject. Let him 

 be deep through the heart, with ribs that swell 

 and bilge behind the girths ; then he is certain 



