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hand, is well balanced and will do whatever you 

 want, take him one day when not too fresh to a 

 small and easy course and ride him round it, or 

 better still, if you have a farm, ride him over a 

 few small natural fences. Don't ride in spurs and 

 avoid using a whip, but you may have just to show 

 it to him. A good jumping ring, if available, is 

 a useful adjunct. Use it a few times before you 

 ride your young one over fences, and if during the 

 progress of his jumping education he gives you 

 trouble, put him back into the ring for a time or 

 two, not too often. Recollect that the real 

 jumping education and polish must be given from 

 the saddle; you cannot make a horse take off exact- 

 ly as you wish when driving him round a ring, nor 

 can you direct him at any exact spot in the fence 

 or prevent a slight swerve in the last stride. 

 That slight swerve from the weak and selected spot 

 in a strong fence which many a badly broken hunter 

 makes just as he takes off is a very fruitful 

 source of falls. 



Always try to make your horse take his jump 

 as a matter of course and without any excitement. 

 He should, if possible, be taught to hop over a 

 fence with as little fuss as when he changes pace 

 from walk to trot or trot to canter. That is why 

 it is so important to give all the first jumping 

 lessons when your horse is not fresh or above him- 

 self. And, above all, never bring a horse up to 

 a fence without making it perfectly clear to him 

 that he is expected to jump it. 



If you take a young horse by surprise, he will 

 certainly either refuse or jump badly. There is 

 no doubt a little knack or skill required to make 

 it quite clear to your horse that he has got to 

 jump, and yet to do this without in any way exciting 

 him. 



It is quite easy to rouse a horse for a jump 

 by an application of the whip or spurs, or by other 

 exciting moves of the arms or legs, but that of all 

 things is what you want to avoid with a young one. 

 It is also easy to trot or canter a horse up to a 



