THE HUNTER 59 



sidewise. This is a point that is too often overlooked 

 in selecting a lady's mount. I have ridden many 

 hunters and jumpers and have never had a comforta- 

 ble ride over a jump on a very short-backed one. The 

 same thing applies to a horse that is too tightly ribbed 

 up. In order to be comfortable to ride and possess 

 freedom of stride and ability to jump a horse must 

 "stand over a lot of ground" and "be long over all." 

 His ribs, however, must be well "sprung," for a flat- 

 sided animal with a small barrel has "no place to put 

 his dinner," and will generally be a poor doer and not 

 up to the work required of a hunter. 



As we have already seen, an oblique shoulder, one 

 in which the bones are not muscle-bound and can 

 move freely, is, owing to the ease of stride which it 

 gives, desirable in any horse intended for saddle work. 

 In a hunter the advantages derived from the oblique 

 shoulder are even more manifold. Although the horse 

 with the oblique shoulder can gallop no faster than the 

 straight-shouldered one, and can jump no higher 

 (many of our high jumpers are straight-shouldered 

 half-bred hackneys*), he can do the first with greater 

 ease for the rider, and the second with more safety and 

 with far less concussion to himself. He can land down 

 a bank or recover himself after a bad scramble under 

 circumstances which would have brought the straight- 

 shouldered horse down. If in addition to the oblique 

 shoulder the hunter also possesses a fairly high and 



* Confidence, who has the record of 8 feet M-inch (6ee illustration), 

 is a half-bred hackney. It is also of interest to note that the wonder- 

 ful little jumper, Bathgate Swell (ridden by the late Colonel Kenna, 

 V. C. D. S. O.), who, although only 13.2 hands high, could jump 6 feet 

 4 inches in height and 19 feet broad, was also a full registered hack- 

 ney. Then, again, the deer, who is a straight-shouldered animal, is 

 not only very fast, but can jump heights undreamed of by a horse. 



