SHOWING HUNTERS AND JUMPERS 187 



feet four inches is high enough to school over. If a 

 horse has learned to jump this well and has acquired 

 confidence in himself by never hearing the bars rattle 

 behind him, or if he has never been asked to do more 

 than he is capable of, he will jump a few inches higher 

 in the show ring without any trouble. 



If a horse refuses or makes a mistake, take him back 

 over the jump at which he offended, until he does it 

 perfectly, but go quietly and gently about it and don't 

 lose your temper. When he has done it well, take 

 him home. Don't be over-critical with a horse in- 

 clined to turn sour, and if, after a refusal or mistake, 

 he clears the jump with a slight tick, let it go at that 

 rather than spoil his temper. Although it is true that 

 some horses refuse from having had too little jumping, 

 and that when out hunting it is more apt to be the 

 first rather than the last fence at which a horse refuses, 

 nevertheless, most horses refuse from too much jump- 

 ing, and more horses are spoiled from too much school- 

 ing than from too little. 



The best possible way of giving a horse plenty of 

 practice at jumping, without running the risk of sour- 

 ing him, is to give him lessons in jumping on the "long 

 reins." In this way far more jumps can be taken at 

 one session, and the jumps can be made much higher 

 than would be wise to ride a horse over. The effect of 

 this is to make all jumps thereafter in the show ring 

 or hunting field look absurdly small to him. Unfor- 

 tunately, few persons are capable of handling the long 

 reins sufficiently well to school a horse with them.* 



Much of the preliminary jumping may be omitted 



* Schooling in a corral is excellent in many ways, and for some horses, 

 but it can never take the place of the education that a horse can re- 

 ceive on the "long reins." 



