102 HINTS ON HORSEIMANSHIP 



fence. But on a trained horse there is no difficulty 

 at all. From what I see, I have come to the 

 conclusion that a trained hunter is an astonishingly- 

 rare animal. Hunting people generally are satis- 

 fied vnih far too low a standard, and make little, 

 if any, effort at home to improve their cattle. If 

 a horse is described as a "good hunter" either 

 in the sale-ring or dealer's yard, they appear to 

 accept that as final, and make no effort to improve 

 them. In this particular instance it is very easy 

 to overcome the difficulty, far easier than people 

 suppose. It only requires a fence rigged up in the 

 paddock at home, with a shallow ditch in front 

 blinded by brambles. If the services of a rough 

 rider can be obtained (which can usually be done 

 without difficulty) the best way is to ride the 

 horse over the fence, and teach him how uncom- 

 fortable and unpleasant it is to put his feet into the 

 brambles. A safer but not quite so satisfactory 

 a way is to lounge him over. A horse who 

 has experienced only once or twice such an 

 obstacle will avoid all brambles on the take-off 

 side for the future like the devil does holy water. 

 There need be no risk to either horse or rider, as 

 the ditch, as a start, can be quite a shallow one, 

 and it can be increased in depth at will according 

 to circumstances. In this way, by just taking 

 a modicum of trouble, we can increase our enjoy- 

 ment and security when out hunting to a very 

 appreciable extent. 



There is yet one more point before finally closing 

 this chapter. The so-called trained hunter is more 

 often than not very troublesome to moimt. A 



