LEAPING. 125 



obstacles of a height that they would otherwise never 

 have been able to clear. This simple proceeding, well 

 applied, will be useful even to exceptional horses, such 

 as steeple-chasers, by teaching them to come more care- 

 fully to the point of ' taking off,' and will render falls 

 less frequent." The idea of M. Baucher is to get the 

 horse in the habit of jumping a little higher than he 

 thinks necessary, so as to be on the safe side, and a very 

 good idea it is. It is a practice among experienced rid- 

 ers to hounds in England, instead of leaping a post-and- 

 rail fence midway between the posts, to leap as close to 

 a post as possible, or directly over it when it is not 

 much higher than the rail. 



To return to our equine scholar having practised 

 him for a month or so at an elevation of two feet, his 

 muscles will have adapted themselves to the new strain 

 put upon them, and it will be safe to begin to raise the 

 bar higher, and gradually to go up nearly to the limit 

 of his ability. It is well, however, never to ask too 

 much, as even a willing leaper will be sometimes so dis- 

 gusted at what he thinks tyrannical exactions as to re- 

 fuse obstinately ever to try again. The horse should 

 never be allowed to rush at the bar, but should always, 

 if approaching at a gallop, be collected, as much as a 

 hundred feet away, so as to be under perfect control. 

 The higher the leap, the slower the pace at which it 

 should be taken, for the very momentum acquired by a 

 rush, which would be useful in a water leap, would carry 



