156 RIDING FOR LADIES. 



The better bred a horse is, the better water-jumper he 

 will assuredly be. Coarse-bred horses who are clever 

 enough at ordinary fences, will almost always go clumsily 

 at water, if they can be got to go at it at all ; the reason 

 being that clean-bred horses are the only really good 

 stayers^ and as deep or wide water is seldom met with at 

 the beginning of a run, they alone have the stamina to 

 carry them safely over, after galloping perhaps a stiff line 

 of country for thirty minutes or so, with scarcely any 

 check. When jumping water, give your horse a very long 

 rein, and don't touch him with the curb. Steady him 

 when coming up to it, and again on landing, in order that 

 he may get safely away on the other side, and not either 

 peck or sprawl. 



If you have to jump a thorn fence, and that it is leaning 

 towards you, be sure there is something ugly on the 

 other side, and go at it with sufficient determination to give 

 your horse the necessary impetus for a safe get-over. If, on 

 the other hand, the ditch is on the taking-off side, and that 

 the hedge leans away from you, take him very steadily and 

 deliberately — letting him see exactly what he has to do. 



Finally, if the horse that you are riding happens to be 

 old, or what is called " dickey," namely, shaky on the fore- 

 legs, be careful about jumping him when the ground is 

 hard. This applies likewise to tender-footed animals. I 

 have ridden horses in February who travelled delightfully 

 over soft slushy ground, and fenced splendidly when up to 

 their fetlocks in mud, — yet, when March came round, and, 

 lands were dry and hard, they stood still and shivered at 



