STYLE OF JUMPING. 255 



tively easy to teach a horse an effective, though ''sticky" style 

 of timber jumping ; but it is difficult to get the generality of 

 young ones to learn the free and " flippant " method which 

 will enable them to go from one field into another without 

 any fear of their dropping their hind legs into a ditch on 

 the far side, or catching their feet against a guard rail, or 

 perchance in wire. To acquire this essentially Leicester- 

 shire style, to which I shall chiefly devote my attention, a 

 horse must learn to lift himself well off the ground and 

 spread himself out. I in no way wish to deny that a horse 

 can be taught to adapt his style to the nature of the fence ; 

 but such a degree of excellence is difficult to attain, and the 

 attempt to reach it may end by spoiling the animal for 

 both kinds of work. Lest any of my readers may mis- 

 understand my meaning in this connection, I may explain 

 that the one style of jumping to which I refer is that 

 practised in The Shires and on our steeplechase courses ; 

 the other, in Galway for getting over big stone walls, and 

 in Australia for clearing very high posts and rails. In the 

 former, the animal always covers a considerable width and 

 can also jump fairly high when required. In the latter, if 

 the horse jumps high, he will cover but little ground. At 

 horse-jumping competitions in England, such as those at 

 Islington, several very high timber jumpers will show 

 ability to clear water of good width ; but if asked to jump 

 a four-foot hedge, they would not, unless greatly stimulated, 

 leave much margin on the other side. In both styles, the 

 respective horses should, of course, learn to regulate their 

 pace and measure their distance, according to the nature of 

 the fence. 



