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horse going. The result may be that you have to 

 hurry your young one or, if your leader dwells at 

 the fence, have to pull him out of his stride, both 

 equally bad for him. 



That your leader, no matter how good he is, may 

 refuse or fall is another consideration, for in either 

 case he ceases to be of any value to you. On the 

 whole, then, it is far better, when possible, to get 

 a clear front and find your own way over fences. 



If a horse is at all excitable he is apt to 

 jump in a wild hurried way when after another, while 

 if alone he will /judge the fence for himself and jump 

 in a much more collected style. 



If the above suggestions for preliminary school- 

 ing cannot be carried out > a young one can often be 

 made into a good hunter without them. I have taken 

 out four-year-olds with hounds, which I had not the 

 chance to school beforehand, and which to my certain 

 knowledge had not been schooled in any way. In such 

 a case you should begin carefully, and feel your way 

 as to the fences to take on for the first few days 

 you are out. A pack of harriers is far the best 

 school for making young hunters, for as a rule the 

 field is not a large one, so that your young one has 

 a better chance to watch hounds - an enormous advan- 

 tage. There is no lead like a pack of hounds: 

 horses love to be near them when running. Then 

 again, if things do go wrong, they don't get away 

 from you as foxhounds do, for it is rare for a hare 

 to make much of a point. 



Horses vary so much that no fixed laws can be 

 laid down for evolving the perfect hunter, and it 

 may be a comfort to anyone who has failed in school- 

 ing a young one at home if I give an instance of such 

 a failure which resulted in a very fine performer. 

 The case in point was a well-bred mare which a friend 

 of mine had bought in Ireland and asked me to ride 

 and "make" for him. The first thing I rode her at 

 was a small ditch, the worst kind of jump, I may add, 

 to select for such a purpose, but it happened to come 

 handy. She did not show much temper, but simply 



