156 PRECEPT AND PRACTICE. 



latter/ as a dealer once said of a blind or broken- 

 winded horse, * would be his misfortune, not his fault.* 

 But if a horse has all the requisites of jumping at 

 command, his refusing (for the time) renders him 

 next to worthless, whether it arises from stubborn- 

 ness or timidity — from whichever cause it proceeds 

 he must be broke of it, though by diametrically op- 

 posite means. If, which would not be the case with 

 one horse in fifty, his wilfulness or his timidity could 

 not be cured, tlie only trade for him is ' leather.' " 



" But you have not answered my query as to 

 whether you could find for private practice fences of 

 sufficient variety to qualify a horse to take all such 

 as he might meet with in a day's hunting." 



" As to what he might meet with," replied Mentor, 

 smiling, " I am free to confess he might meet with 

 things for which I could not prepare him. What say 

 you to a train of artillery going along a road he was 

 preparing to cross ? But for all he would be at all 

 likely to meet, I will be bound I would so prepare 

 him that he should neither refuse nor be at a loss 

 how to take it." 



