26 Cross Country with Horse and Hound 



the sport. It also goes without saying that there must be 

 a great difference between a horse that has his heart in the 

 sport and goes at it like a school-boy from his books, and 

 one that has only a poor gizzard for the work. I have 

 dwelt on this point because it demonstrates what I wish to 

 bring out farther on in the chapter on " Schooling 

 Hunters/' 



Horses with short, thick necks do not make good hun- 

 ters. I do not know of any exception to this rule. They 

 are not easily brought to hand ; they invariably rein badly, 

 and are apt to have hard, unyielding mouths. Avoid also 

 a horse that carries a high head. This is another rule 

 without an exception. The head of a hunter is quite high 

 enough when his eyes are on a line with the height of his 

 withers, as in the picture at page 22. This low carriage 

 of a hunter's head is very important, and for several reasons: 

 (i) It enables the rider to lean well forward as his mount 

 begins to spring at a jump (see page 96), and still have 

 room for the horse to throw up his head with freedom in 

 the natural act of jumping, without hitting the rider in the 

 face. This point will be noticed more fully later on. (2) 

 High-headed horses must be ridden with a shorter rein 

 than horses with their necks straight. This is an objec- 

 tionable feature, because, the longer the reins, the better and 

 easier the control. This will be referred to again in the chap- 

 ters on " Hands" and "Pulling." (3) When a high-headed 

 horse is ridden at a jump, especially if he pulls and his head 

 comes higher than its natural carriage, the animal is in a 

 most awkward position to take his fence. He does so at 

 the expense of an unnecessary amount of exertion, while 



