THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 125 



fully in Ireland, where the horses are far better and 

 earlier schooled than in any other country; — ^for this 

 reason they are all good jumpers ;— it is far better than 

 all the practice they can have at the leaping-bar. 

 Gates, stiles, palings, rails, &c. coming under the de- 

 nomination of timber, are the safest and easiest of all 

 leaps, standing generally fair, clear on both sides, and 

 lower than the stiff fences, which are thought nothing 

 of, in comparison, and always preferred to the still 

 stronger temptation, the ^' tioli me tangere'' timber. 

 Avoid a gate that opens from you, unless you are sure 

 that it is fast ; you cannot have a much worse fall than 

 that occasioned by the opening of a gate, upon a horse's 

 striking it either with fore or hind-legs ; if it open from 

 you, ride always near the hinge ; the take off is generally 

 better, though the bars are stiffer close to the post. 

 Gates opening towards you are the best to jump, they 

 offer a resistance, and generally break with the weight 

 and force of a horse, if he be inclined to feel them. 

 According to the theory of ancient philosophers, one 

 half of danger consisted in the view of it: this may 

 account for the preference of a blind thrust through a 

 bull-finch, with as little idea of what is beyond, as the 

 man of Thessaly had in the quickset, to an upstand- 

 ing leap, fair and above board. It is possible, also, that 

 the certainty of a bad fall, should your horse, either by 

 being blown, slipping at taking off, or by any other acci- 



