26o JUMPING. 



to construct in one's breaking enclosure. If it were possible 

 to have a gap made in a fence of the kind about which I 

 am writing, one might be able to drive a horse over it on a 

 circle in the usual way without having to let go the reins. 



By this method, horses, as a rule, will quickly learn 

 to jump (see Figs. 112 and 113), and not alone to 

 clear the obstacle, but also to negotiate it in the exact 

 style they are required to do when a man is on their 

 back. The more horses are practised in this manner, the 

 more will they appear to like jumping, and will very 

 rarely exhibit, as they are apt to do with a rider, any dislike 

 to the work, from numerous repetitions, backwards and 

 forwards, over the same fence. 



The old plan of teaching a horse to jump by leading him 

 over fences with a cavesson and one or two leading-reins 

 should not be employed ; for its tendency, by throwing too 

 much weight on the forehand, will be to make him slow at 

 getting away from his fences. Besides this, horses are apt 

 to resist any forward pull on either cavesson or head-stall. 

 The action of the crupper leading-rein, on the contrary, 

 while leaving the head entirely free, is to make the horse 

 get his hind legs well under him. One great beauty, to 

 which I have already alluded, of the long-rein system is 

 that by it the horse's movements, as regards pace, speed, 

 and direction, are more under the control of the breaker 

 than by any other method. 



A tendency to put too much weight on the forehand 

 when landing, may be corrected by the use of a bearing- 

 rein (see page 185), which will be very seldom required for 

 this purpose. 



