TEACHING HORSES TO JUMP. 127 



fences. A few days after that, I had the same colt and 

 boy out with my own harriers, and gave the lad strict 

 orders to stick to the hounds. The result was that the 

 colt never turned his head from anything. I had 

 hardly landed over one enormous bank with a grip on 

 the taking off side, which was almost too big for my 

 liking, although I was on one of the boldest hunters 

 in Ireland, when, to my surprise, the young one 

 was at my girths, sailing away in high delight at the 

 fun. 



" It will not take long to make a young horse a good 

 jumper, provided he is treated with kindness, firmness, 

 and common sense. As soon as he gets confidence in 

 himself, he will be fit to go over any steeplechase 

 course ; and, then, the pace may be increased at the 

 fences. He should, if possible, always be ridden in 

 company ; sometimes, getting a lead, at other times 

 taking it, or going all abreast." 



The preliminary practice I would pursue in "making" 

 a jumper, is first to give him a good mouth by driving 

 him on foot in the manner described in Illustrated 

 Horse Breaking, and then teach him to leap without 

 anyone on his back. The great advantages of this 

 method are that the horse which is broken according to 

 it, acquires a perfect mouth, is under absolute control, 

 and is free from the ill effects which too frequently 

 result from the punishment and "jobbing" in the 

 mouth that are inflicted on " green " horses by bad 

 tempered and incompetent riders. After a horse has 

 learnt to leap well, when driven over jumps with a 

 rider who does not hold the reins, on his back (see 

 Illustrated Horse Breaking], he will be far less liable to 



