HORSES TO JUMP 79 



that a jerk on the horse's mouth when in mid-air 

 will raise the horse's head and down will go his 

 hindquarters, and down will come the railway 

 gates or sleepers, etc. 



In riding show jumping it is necessary to 

 always ride the horse in the same way, other- 

 wise he cannot consistently show his true form. 

 I found this out from experience lately, when, 

 owing to an injured leg, I was unable to ride 

 the horses in the manner they were accustomed 

 to. Consequently they lost confidence and 

 failed. 



For this same reason it is inadvisable to put 

 strange riders on to horses when they are show 

 jumping. No matter how good the rider may 

 be, he and the horse will probably take some 

 days to know each other's ways, and, until they 

 do, the horse cannot be expected to jump in his 

 best form. 



Horses trained for show jumping may roughly 

 be divided into two classes, (i) Horses that 

 perform on their own, and the rider is merely 

 a passenger. Such horses are trained by 

 incessant jumping, and generally take several 

 years before they reach the top of their form. 

 (2) Horses that are carefully trained to obey 

 the rider's hand and leg. They can then be 

 taught to jump in a comparatively short time, 



