28o RIDING OVER A COUNTRY. 



In steeplechasing, on the contrary, the horse should have the 

 necessity impressed on him of clearing with quickness and 

 precision every obstacle at which he is turned. The value of 

 a hunter chiefly depends on his being able to understand his 

 rider's wishes. Need I say how necessary it is for the man on 

 his back to have pluck and decision of character ? 



As it is essential for safety, when crossing a country, that 

 a horse should take his fences in a steady, business-like , 

 manner, the rider ought to try to avoid betraying any unusual 

 eagerness or anxiety, beyond showing by a firm pressure of 

 the legs, and a good hold of the animal's head, that he means 

 to go straight, when approaching an obstacle. He should 

 eschew the vicious habit of shifting about in his seat, and 

 of working with the reins, or " niggling " at the horse's mouth, 

 as we sometimes call it in Ireland. We should bear in mind 

 that the art of riding well over a country consists chiefly in 

 making as little as possible of the jumps, and that the fact of 

 the rider treating fences and level ground with equal indiffer- 

 ence, will inspire his horse with confidence to take things in 

 the same spirit. On a strange horse or on one of which we 

 have any doubt, we might restrain his pace a bit, or send him 

 along with an encouraging word. But we should never, unless 

 on a peculiar horse or in a peculiar country, pull him up, when 

 we come to a fence, in order that he may take it according to 

 any arbitrary ideas of our own ; and we should not frighten 

 him by whip, spurs, or voice, to show the spectators how brave 

 we are, or to harden our hearts. In order to be one with a 

 horse, we should endeavour to get him to take his fences in 

 the same manner as we would do ourselves, were we on foot, 

 and were we possessed of the requisite activity. As horses are 

 very prone to take liberties perhaps because, as Whyte 

 Melville says, they don't like jumping the rider should show 

 his mount that he means business. If, however, when going 

 up to a fence, the horseman sees proper cause for pulling up, 



