THE COUNTRY AND THE HORSE REQUIRED. 235 



the sequel to a broken back. Then, again, some must be 

 fiown ; and unless you know what is coming beforehand, 

 the rider must quickly tighten his hold of the reins, give 

 a sudden pressure of the knees, which, if his steed knows 

 his business, will mean a rapid increase of pace in the last 

 two or three strides, no hesitation on the brink, and then 

 the obstacle is negotiated safely enough. Let your horse 

 hesitate or jump nervously, and he will probably spend an 

 hour, two, perhaps even three, in its evil-smelling mud 

 ere a team of horses and half a dozen labourers have pulled 

 and dug the luckless beast out. Never go hunting in the 

 Brocklesby marshes without a half-sovereign in your 

 waistcoat pocket. 



Some horses take naturally to the drains, while others 

 — good enough fencers otherwise — never become safe 

 drain-jumpers. Perhaps the first drain frightens them; 

 they either get in badly, or have a narrow squeak ; the}^ 

 lose their confidence, and are never reliable afterwards. 

 Don't take such a horse into the marshes ; keep him for 

 the wolds or the vale. The writer once took a thorough- 

 bred mare to a meet at Healing Manor, and the Master's 

 first order was for Sutton Thorns. The mare had never 

 been over a drain in her life, so there seemed to be con- 

 siderable speculation as to the future proceedings. There 

 first came a fast-run ring from Sutton Thorns on the 

 Grimsby side and back again. The first drain was a small 

 one, and the mare bucked over it. The next was also a 

 small one, and it was jumped with more confidence. By 

 the time we had negotiated about a dozen drains and 



o 



returned to Sutton Thorns, I was satisfied that I had got 

 a drain -jumper, and that, bar accident, I was " all right." 

 We had thirty-five minutes down the marshes to Killing- 

 holme ; the mare never once made a mistake, and I never 

 rode a better drain-jumper. But it is rather a risky pro- 

 ceeding to take it for granted that your horse can jump 

 drains. Better is it to spend a morning schooling in lines, 

 picking out drains that can be jumped standing, and 

 though not actually bad ones, those that will hold a 



