MODE OF BIDING AT TIMBER. 51 



MODE OF BIDING AT TlMBEB. 



In getting rapidly across a difficult country there are 

 two sorts of fences, each of which has to be jumped in a 

 manner the very opposite of that required by the other. 

 A young hunter will leap almost any ordinary fence, 

 particularly if it be broad, as well, and, from his im- 

 petuosity, often better than an old one. But there is 

 one description of barrier, called by hunting men " tim- 

 ber " (that is to say stiles, gates, and rails, that cannot 

 be broken), which requires, in both rider and horse, 

 a great deal more discretion than valour : indeed of 

 " timber " it may truly be said that it is the most dan- 

 gerous and, on the other hand, the safest fence a man can 

 ride at. 



If a young horse, highly excited, be ridden fast for 

 the first time in his life at a gate, it is very likely he 

 will clear it ; on the other hand, it is quite certain that 

 if, despising bars through which he can see daylight, he 

 resolves to break the top one, the penalty attached to his 

 mistake will be a very heavy one : indeed nothing can 

 be more disagreeable to a rider and frightful to look 

 at than the result. Now, of course, the obvious way of 

 preventing this catastrophe is simply to teach a horse 

 firstly, that he cannot break timber, and secondly, 



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