238 THE HOKSE. 



may present. The rules for sitting a horse in his 

 jump, are precisely the same as those which refer to 

 him when unquiet and he alternately rears and kicks: 

 if flying, sit fast, give your nag his head, and have 

 your wits about you. It may be often necessary 

 touch your horse with the spur or whip towards 

 the finish of his leap, in order to make him clear 

 his hinder legs; to the horse much ought, indeed 

 must be confided in this affair. If seasoned, and a 

 staunch fencer, it is a perilous thing to drive him at 

 a jump that he, most assuredly the best and safest 

 judge, has refused ; and I recollect several fatal acci- 

 dents from that vainglorious, but jay pated practice. 

 Nor is it always successful to drive a raw horse, by 

 the force of whip and spur, at a fence that has alarmed 

 him, it may render him habitually desperate and care- 

 less. The way to make a horse a steady, prompt, 

 and safe fencer, is to suffer him to take to it by de- 

 grees and spontaneously ; some very excellent hedge 

 fencers are naturally shy of timber, in particular 

 palings, and hurdles; such horses cannot be safely 

 put to those of any considerable height. Hunting 

 being the most delightful and favoured of all sports, 

 surely our enthusiasts might say to themselves before 

 taking a desperate or dangerous step — hold hard ! I 

 should like to enjoy another day's hunt, and there 

 may be no hunting in the other world. 



The old wild goose chase, or modern steeple 

 hunt, are naturally enough consecutive on the above 

 remarks. The latter chase, however, sufficiently op- 

 pressive and ruinous to the horse, is a tender mercy 

 compared with the former, in which the beaten horse 



