HANDLING YOUR HORSE 6i 



will bring his head towards his chest, and as he 

 bends to the signal, the curb will be relaxed and 

 the snaffle will play lightly on the sensitive bars. 

 His hind legs well under him, he now moves for- 

 ward with a short and collected stride, but the firm 

 grip on the saddle-flaps never for a moment allows 

 him to doubt his rider's intention of jumping. A 

 light touch with the bridle and a faint squeeze of 

 the rider's legs then indicate that the exact moment 

 for taking off has arrived. Much to the horse's 

 surprise, he finds that little effort is needed to clear 

 the fence, and except for a fairy-like touch on the 

 reins there is nothing to restrain him from stretching 

 out his head as he lands on the other side. Thus 

 from fence to fence horse and rider go on, gradu- 

 ally gaining confidence in one another, until at the 

 end of the day the wild, rushing, headstrong brute 

 has been converted into a temperate hunter. 



Now let us go back to the preliminary lessons in 

 jumping. A stiff wooden bar that will not break 

 should be used, and the colt driven over it with 

 long reins, but you will find full directions for this 

 in Captain Hayes' book. The mistake that most 

 people make is asking their horses to jump too 

 high at the start. In the beginning the bar 

 should be on the ground, and should be raised 

 gradually a few inches at a time. For the first 

 lesson three feet is quite high enough, and after 

 that you can increase it slightly every day, but 

 the most important part in putting a horse over 

 a bar is to make him jump in good style from 



