378 DOING AWAY OLD PKEJUDICES. 



be inferred that he cannot or does not often jump 

 quite as high, (though not at walls) ; he jumps very 

 often a height for which he gets no credit, and in 

 taking a fence with a rail or a plashed hedge on the 

 top of it (and that sometimes with a rise to it), I am 

 quite satisfied our horses often take six feet when we 

 are not aware of it : a Avail or a paling of six feet is 

 an awful thing to face ; now a sloping bank with a 

 fence on its top of the same height would not look 

 as high by a foot at least, and such in grazing coun- 

 tries our horses frequently get over. 



We must certainly allow that our neighbours, the 

 Irish, were in a general way very far before us in 

 finding out the capabilities of horses as to jumping, 

 and but for the introduction of steeple chases we 

 should probably have still remained in the second 

 place, but that is all done away with now. Time 

 was also when the Irish thought us far behind them 

 as horsemen : take the average of the two nations as 

 riders, it is quite fair, and but just, to allow that 

 formerly the Irish were by far the boldest riders ; 

 their country obliged them to be so ; but now every 

 unprejudiced Irishman will allow we have as bold 

 riders here, when boldness becomes necessary, as they 

 have on the other side of the Channel. 



There is still one feature in the Irish horse that, 

 speaking in a general way, we do not see in English 

 ones ; the Irish horses all leap, from the hunter to 

 the common car-horse. I will now refer to some 

 letters I sent home many years ago from Ireland, 

 wherein I gave the impressions made on me at that- 

 time. I was then, as it will be seen, much more 

 convinced of the superior qualifications of every Irish 

 horse as a leaper than I am now, though I still give 



