HUNTERS' MOUTHS MAY BE TOO DELICATE. 75 



but we could not force him as much to lift himself 

 as he will do in yielding to the pressure of a bit. 

 We should therefore regulate the hold we take of a 

 horse's mouth by our experience of the sensibility of 

 that mouth. Some are so tender and delicate that 

 we really cannot afford a horse any assistance at all ; 

 for it is quite clear that if a mouth is so delicate 

 (which some are) that a horse will not bear a pull 

 that would break a packthread, we must either put him 

 to absolute torture, or we can in point of assistance 

 afford him little or none ; and this is one reason why 

 I consider a hunter's mouth may be too light. We 

 can of course so bit him as in a great measure to 

 remedy this ; but if a horse will not even pull fairly 

 at an easy snaffle, I consider this a failing in a hunter. 

 By pain we can make such a horse do what we want, 

 but we cannot help him to do it. In using the term 

 " assisting," or helping a horse across a country, we 

 must take the term in two senses : first, actually in 

 a limited degree helping him ; and secondly, helping 

 him, by preventing him doing that which would 

 distress himself unnecessarily, or endanger the neck 

 of his rider, and in some cases his own. For instance : 

 on a horse alighting, or, in hunting phrase, landing 

 from a drop leap, it rarely if ever happens that all his 

 legs come to the ground at the same moment ; con- 

 sequently his fore-legs have for a time to support the 

 whole shock, not merely of his own specific weight, 

 but that increased by the velocity with which he 

 comes over, and farther still by the weight of his 

 rider. This leap he would generally perform with 

 safety with no weight on his back ; but not always 

 then ; for I am sure many of my brother sportsmen 

 have seen every hound come on their heads or chests 



