SCHOOLING 179 



will of course be gradually increased until they attain 

 the dimensions of the course over which he will have 

 to run in public, but it is a bad thing to jump a horse 

 too much, so that he grows tired and disgusted : here 

 as elsewhere there is a happy medium, and the most 

 successful trainer is the man who hits it off. A few 

 turns round a "jumping school " occasionally are no 

 doubt desirable. This school should be made round 

 four sides of a field, enclosed by stout timber partitions, 

 so that the horses cannot run out when they have 

 been put into it, and the bars through which they 

 have gained admission replaced. In these schools 

 there are fences of as varied a nature as can be 

 devised, and the animals are introduced riderless, men 

 being at hand to drive them over the jumps if they 

 require it. A little practice in this has the effect of 

 making a horse clever. A few years ago the water- 

 jump used to be considered one of the chief features 

 of a steeplechase, but this, as now constructed, is by 

 no means a formidable obstacle, thouQ-h for reasons 

 presently explained it is an awkward jump. Some 

 animals at first show a special dislike to water-jumping, 

 and it is necessary therefore to accustom them to it. 

 Any little brook, a stream even four or five feet wide, 

 will be quite enough to begin with. It is wonderful 

 how readily some horses take to the business, they 

 being, no doubt, natural jumpers, and though it is 

 advisable never to let a steeplechase horse get out of 

 practice, as the muscles chiefly employed in leaping 



