19G THE HUNTING-FIELD. 



or post and rail. Stiles are rarely to be broken ; 

 not being bigli, horses are more careless at them. 

 Gates or higli rails more alarm them ; but, worse 

 still, stiles are often in cramped situations, and the 

 taking off, or landing, or both, is on puzzling 

 ground, such as a narrow footpath, and one side or 

 the other is often a ditch, and narrow plank for 

 foot-passengers ; this must be cleared, or an awful 

 fall is the almost sure consequence. 



" Double post and rails require a horse that 

 knows his business well : if they are pretty close 

 together, they may be taken at a swing, and not 

 being high, may be ridden at fast, in order to get 

 sufficient impetus for the effort: but if to be 

 taken ' in and out,' they must be ridden at lei- 

 surely, otherwise, in clearing the first flight, your 

 horse gets so close to the second he cannot rise, 

 and down he comes over them. I had one horse 

 so clever at this, that if they were very narrow 

 between, and he at all blown, he woidd take the 

 first so obUquely as for an instant to stand all but 

 side by side between both, then throwing himself 

 with a kind of twist over the second. But on a 

 tired horse, narrow post and rails are very 

 hazardous ; he cannot take them at once, and he 

 must collect his legs very close to have room to 

 do them at twice ; and they are still worse if the 

 ground between is hog-backed, or treacherous foot- 

 hold. 



