124 HACKS AND HUNTERS 



ingly narrow. I therefore concluded that my mare 

 would get more of a run if I took the fence diagonally, 

 which I did, with the result that I found myself, much 

 to my astonishment, on the ground in a heap with 

 my mare. By this accident, however, I not only 

 pleased the field hugely by having made a gap for them 

 to pour through — a fall in time, you know, saves nine 

 — but I also learned two things: First, that when cer- 

 tain gentlemen of the Meadow Brook Hunt, without 

 mentioning any names, stop to pull down a fence, you 

 may rest well assured that that particular fence is 

 beyond the powers of mortal men and horses; and 

 second, that it is better to take five feet straight than 

 four feet crooked. "One thorn of experience is worth 

 a whole wilderness of warning." 



The pace at which a hjorse approaches his jumps is 

 also of paramount importance. As a rule, beginners 

 and green horses are apt to rush their fences, either 

 through ignorance or through a certain form of "funk" 

 which inspires them to have the worst over as soon as 

 possible. It is peculiar how many people, who jump 

 quite bravely when they are allowed to sail down over 

 a fence, will find their nerves failing if they are obliged 

 to jump quietly and slowly out of a narrow lane. It is 

 for this reason, I believe, that it requires quite a dif- 

 ferent type of nerve to ride well over an Irish country, 

 and face the monstrous banks and drains almost from 

 a standstill, than it does to gallop over the hedges of 

 Leicestershire, or the timber of a Meadow Brook drag. 



However, inasmuch as racing over timber is as fool- 

 ish as it is dangerous, it is better to teach beginners 

 and young horses to jump small fences from a trot, or 

 a collected canter, but this theory, as we have already 

 stated in discussing the qualifications of the hunter, 



