64 Cross Country with Horse and Hound 



him. He believes in you thoroughly, and takes a three- 

 foot jump in his stride with as much confidence as he did 

 the eighteen-inch jump when he was a weanling. Up 

 to this time he has never been asked to jump over three 

 feet ; but now you take him out, and on the way home you 

 have some new things, say three- feet-six. Nothing like 

 that stops him now. You have jumped him a thousand 

 times, and it always turned out all right. At this point 

 you could take that colt through half a run with hounds, 

 and the chances are he would give many an old qualified 

 hunter a lead over four or even five feet of timber. He 

 has a nice mouth, and nothing rattles him. He does not 

 worry or pull, knows no such thing as refusing, has ab- 

 solute confidence in his rider, and can jump, and does 

 jump, anything. The writer has had many falls, but after 

 adopting this method of schooling he never had a horse go 

 down with him but once. An equally good report comes 

 from hunting men in various parts of the country who 

 have had experience with hunters similarly trained. 



Whatever a trainer feels obliged to do by way of cor- 

 recting a youngster or a greenhorn, my advice is, never 

 punish him when he is taking a lesson, especially not when 

 he is in the act of jumping. A colt, if he is whipped or 

 spurred or injured or even made uncomfortable every time 

 he jumps, associates the act of jumping with something that 

 is going to hurt him, and refuses or rushes it, not from fear 

 of the jump, but of the pain he expects to accompany it. 



The necessity of having a stable-boy or special rider that 

 has perfect hands and seat and the best of tempers should 

 be noted. It is not too much to say that most faults in 



