THE HUNTER AND HIS EDUCATION 



back, is a hunter in a stone-wall country, and the 

 boldness and cleverness there acquired stand 

 him in good stead when rails or gates must be 

 encountered. The writer has ridden dozens of 

 horses (rarely the same horse twice) over a nearby 

 country, where walls, many of them capped and 

 two feet thick, form the chief impediments, run- 

 ning up to formidable heights, frequently crowned 

 with " sheep-rails ; " interspersed with plank fences 

 and post and rails ; and although these animals 

 had never seen hounds, nor a jump of any sort, 

 was always up at the finish. This is only men- 

 tioned (with apology) to show that personal ex- 

 perience with quantities of horses of all sizes, 

 shapes, and kinds, has proved how practical are 

 such methods, and how generally wrong we are 

 in all this schooling over which we make so much 

 fuss and flurry ; we will persist in trying to make 

 an animal, who understands himself better than 

 we possibly can, do his work after our fashion. 



Post and rails afford a fair and easy fence to 

 the horse which has been deceived into thinking 

 rails unbreakable ; he can see any impending 

 ditch clearly, and can in every way allow for just 

 what exertion is necessary. Rails have a forbid- 

 ding appearance to those who have hunted in a 



175 



