RIDING TO HOUNDS 223 



marvellously retentive memory, it is most 

 essential that the right way should be pursued 

 from the very commencement. In this the 

 teaching of Ireland, that grand nursery of young 

 hunters, may well be followed. A horse ther 

 learns to jump banks, ditches, and all kinds o 

 obstacles without any weight on its back, being 

 led over them with a long rope until it under- 

 stands thoroughly what is required of it, and not 

 till then is it asked to jump with a person on its 

 back. How different is this from the ordinary 

 way in England, where usually a man endeavours 

 to ride the young horse over small places, 

 following the lead of another, before the pupil 

 knows at all how to make its spring ; and when 

 any scramble that ensues is much aggravated 

 by the clumsiness and weight of the rider. The 

 latter, too, is frequently nervous ; and his tremors 

 are at once communicated to the animal, in that 

 mysterious way whereby it so quickly divines 

 the thoughts of the man on its back. 



In the early lessons it is most important that 

 the pupil should be thoroughly imbued with the 

 notion that timber is not to be broken ; and the 

 bar over which it commences to jump should be 

 so strong that a fall, or at least a great struggle to 

 prevent one, is the certain result of taking 

 liberties with it. The bar should be kept quite 

 low at first, not higher than the animal's knees, 

 indeed, and only gradually raised. It should 

 never be put to a good height until the young 

 horse has hit it once or twice, and learned how 

 to save a fall, for if this does not happen till the 

 bar is a really good height, the pupil does not 

 know what is going to happen when he makes 

 a mistake, and may break a fore-leg, by not 



