"MADE" FENCES. 223 



a salutary lesson, and therefore I would warn all ladies 

 to let their horses run out when the animals have taken 

 the first step in the wrong direction, as it is then too 

 late to keep them straight with safety, and a sudden 

 turn, with the object of trying to do so, is very apt to 

 make a horse blunder. 



When a touch with the whip is given to remind a 

 horse that he has to clear a big ditch on the landing 

 side, or when riding at timber, it should be used on 

 the off flank by a turn of the wrist, but without 

 jerking the reins. The whip, as I have before re- 

 marked, should be employed as an aid and not as a 

 means of inflicting pain. A lady should not bustle her 

 horse at his fences, except perhaps at water, for every 

 horse has his own pace at which he prefers to jump, 

 and the clever sort will always manage to put in a 

 short stride, or take a longer one at the last moment, 

 if they find that the strides they are using will not 

 bring them up to the correct spot from which to take 

 off. In hunting, the fences are generally taken at a 

 canter, and the pace is increased in galloping over the 

 open ground. Horses are thus what is called " steadied" 

 at their fences, but the pull should not be made nearer 

 the fence than 30 yards. When a lady has made up 

 her mind to ride at a fence, she should think of nothing- 

 else but getting over it. Some women go at their 

 fences in such a half-hearted, irresolute manner that 

 their horses learn to refuse. Too much practice over 

 "made" fences is monotonous to the rider and hateful 

 to her horse, who is only too apt to become "re- 



