HUNTING THE FOX 115 



that, apart from the satisfaction of choosing your 

 own line, your horse as a rule will go better with no 

 one in front of him ; there is nothing to distract 

 his attention ; there is no risk of having to pull 

 him out of his stride if your leader has a fall ; he 

 is "on his own " ; he has to look where he is 

 going, and has no incentive to copy the mistakes 

 of the horse in front of him. But in any case it is 

 not wise to trust too much to the automatism of 

 any horse. As a general rule, all horses should be 

 definitely " made up " at each fence. Some riders 

 rather appear to increase the pace as they get near 

 the fence, and to be concerned with the fore part 

 of the horse rather than with his hind part. The 

 opposite practice is the safer ; the rider should 

 contract the stride of his horse by taking hold of 

 his head about twenty yards from the fence, bring 

 his hocks underneath him by pressure from leg 

 and heel, and present him at the fence in collected 

 form, marking with the eye the spot where he 

 intends the horse to take off. This procedure also 

 gives the horse the chance of filling his lungs with 

 wind before he makes the effort to jump. Far 

 more falls have been taken by riding too fast at 

 the fences than by riding too slow. There are 

 very few obstacles that a horse cannot clear from 

 a collected canter. A bold horse should certainly 

 be collected in the manner described. With a 

 slug, or a possible refuser, it is obviously necessary 



