40 TRAINING YOUNG 



country : our imaginary horses never tire, falter 

 or refuse, and we negotiate rails, banks, cut and 

 laid fences and bullfinches with equal facility ; 

 even navigable rivers and canals are taken on 

 in a manner that would do justice to the Spring 

 Captains of Surtees. 



Now, the real thing is not quite so easy. As a 

 small boy one was seldom if ever taught how 

 to present a horse at a fence or how to sit over 

 a fence. There was the inevitable golden rule 

 which apparently never failed — " sit back" — so 

 we sat back, and there was little moderation 

 about it. Sometimes the youthful rider would 

 commence to sit back half-way across the field, 

 anticipating the unpleasantness of a fall. Often 

 the horse would mistake the laying back for 

 the signal to stop, and this he did when he got 

 to the fence. 



Sometimes we did not sit back far enough, and 

 so got jumped off. Generally if our horses took 

 off sooner than we expected, we received a 

 shock of surprise, and this shock reacted even 

 more on our horse's mouth. 



PRESENTING A YOUNG HORSE 

 AT A FENCE CORRECTLY 

 We now approach dangerous ground, for Mr. 

 Jorrocks said, "That there was no young man 



