32 TRAINING YOUNG 



siderable liberty of rein is essential, this is a 

 bad habit, and this mistaken effort of the horse 

 should be checked by putting- on a dumb 

 jockey. On no account must the reins on the 

 dumb jockey be so short as to stop his freedom 

 in jumping, but merely to suggest a higher 

 carriage of the head. They can then be 

 shortened up gradually. 



It is a good plan for those horses who appear to 

 bungle their fences, and are unable to judge 

 their distance properly, to place a bar one foot 

 high at seven yards from the obstacle. The 

 horse will then at the canter have to jump the 

 bar, take one stride and jump the obstacle. 

 It also helps to balance a young horse, by 

 putting several bars at seven yards apart and 

 perhaps one at four yards. In the latter space 

 the horse will not take an extra stride, but will 

 have to change his legs and jump. This is, I 

 believe, continually practised in Italy. 

 In the early stages and, in fact, throughout all 

 the training, all possible excitement should be 

 avoided. This is most important and can only 

 be arrived at by starting with very small 

 obstacles jumped at a very slow pace, even at 

 a walk. As the horse's ability and confidence 

 increase the obstacles can be made corre- 

 spondingly more difficult. If a young horse is 



