126 HACKS AND HUNTERS 



will do his best if sent at the average fence at a fair 

 hunting pace. He should be started slowly, and the 

 pace should increase rather than decrease up to the 

 moment of the take off. 



It is in the manner that the last dozen or so strides 

 are taken that the neatness of the jump depends, and 

 in the show ring or schooling yard, if a horse has been 

 taken up to, and into, the wings correctly, nine cases 

 out of ten he will make a good jump. It is just be- 

 cause this putting of a horse at his jumps correctly is 

 so difficult, and is of more importance than the actual 

 seat of the rider over the jump, that a big jump is more 

 difficult to negotiate than a small one. The leeway 

 allowed the rider in the manner of putting his horse 

 at a fence is naturally much greater at a small fence 

 than at a big one, for the smaller the fence the less 

 difference it makes where the animal takes off. The 

 larger jump can only be negotiated if a horse comes 

 into it "just so." 



Whip or spur are of little assistance over a jump. 

 Only one person in a hundred can apply the whip with 

 proper rhythm and at the right moment, and as a 

 general rule more harm is done with the whip than 

 good. 



What is of far more importance than whip or spur, 

 and which justifies the old saying: "A spur in the head 

 is worth ten in the heel," is that there should be a de- 

 sire on the part of the rider, as well as on the part of 

 the horse, to get over the fence. 



The mind of the rider plays a tremendous part in 

 making a horse jump, and it is usually quite true that 

 if "you throw your heart over the fence, your horse 

 will follow it." A lack of courage on the part of the 

 rider seems instantly to communicate itself to the 



