128 HOBSE MANAGEMENT IN INDIA. 



become spoiled by a rider of but moderate skill, than 

 he would be, had he not received his first lessons with 

 the " long reins " and "leading rein crupper." 



"A very safe way for teaching horses to jump, is to 

 make a circular course of not less than five yards broad 

 and about 150 yards in circumference, and enclose it 

 with high palings, while four or five fences of different 

 kinds say, a hurdle topped with brushwood, an Irish 

 bank, a stone wall, a water jump, and a post and rails 

 may be placed at intervals round it. The horse is 

 then turned loose in this kind of circus, either with or 

 without a leader, and is made to jump with a little 

 persuasion. This plan should be used only as an intro- 

 duction to schooling." (Biding on the Flat and Across 

 Country.) 



After a horse has become perfect in his preliminary 

 work, he should be gradually brought on to the nego- 

 tiation, if possible, of a " natural " line of country, or, 

 failing it, by one of " made " fences. At first the best 

 kind of obstacle for a young or unschooled horse, is low 

 hedges or fences made up of thorns ; as they will make 

 the animal see the necessity of clearing them, without, 

 at the same time, frightening him by bringing him 

 down. The height, of course, should be gradually 

 increased. Special attention should be paid to getting 

 him clever at water and fences that have a ditch in 

 front of them ; as they are, of all others, the ones 

 which horses, as a rule, are most liable to refuse. 

 " Artificial water," which is used on many training 

 courses in England, and which consists of a white 

 sheet or whitewashed strip of ground of the required 

 length and breadth, with a bushed fence of a couple of 



