RIDING OVER A COUNTRY 123 



the training of horse and rider, though we do not 

 want to see them exemplified in the hunting field. 

 But the general result of a course of school riding, 

 I am sure, is good, and I commend it to all 

 aspirants to fame in the hunting field. I have, of 

 course, seen school riders whose nerve was not 

 equal to crossing a country, or who, if they got 

 up in a steeplechase, as I have seen them do on 

 occasion, made a very sorry example of themselves. 

 But the best man I ever saw go through a wood 

 was a man who had gone through a course of 

 school riding. His horse and he were as one, and 

 the pace at which he rode amongst the trees made 

 him the envy of all who saw him. In a word, 

 school riding may not be all that is claimed for it ; 

 it may be even pedantic at times ; but it serves 

 to establish a well-defined code of signals between 

 the horse and his rider ; it makes a good horse- 

 man better ; it makes a bad horseman into a decent 

 one ; and I think every one will admit that many 

 a fall would be saved if the rider knew how to 

 efficiently " lighten his horse's forehand." 



