176 PEECEPT AND PEACTICE. 



of them, unless permitted to do so, will make a mess 

 of it. In fact, there are many that do not at all leave 

 to the option of the rider the pace he wishes to go. 

 Many on starting will rush to the front; no man can 

 stop them ; and probably, if they are effectually 

 checked, they turn sulky, and will not jump at all." 



•' I must say your description of steeple-chase 

 horses does not at all accord with my premising that, 

 from being accustomed to go in many different coun- 

 ties, they must be more or less perfect jumpers in 

 all." 



"It is impossible they can be so. There can be no 

 doubt but that a stake and ether hedge, as in some 

 countries it is called — that is, a hedge something like 

 a wattled hurdle, placed on a bank, making the leap 

 five feet high, with a ditch say five feet wide — would 

 be the same, meet with it where you would, and 

 horses would of course take it, meet it where they 

 might; but it is blind and intricate fences that occasion 

 the number of falls we see and hear of in hunting. 

 I will venture to say that where one fall occurs in 

 taking a fair, big, rattling jump, ten occur at fences 



