18 MR. MORROGH'S HORSES 



horses can jump bigger and better when ridden at a 

 moderate pace. I have myself trained many of my 

 horses to jump so big from a stand, that they could 

 accomplish fences which were impossible to fly, and in 

 a close, cramped country such training is most in- 

 valuable. 



The late Mr. Leonard Morrogh, the well-known 

 master of the Ward, trained most of his horses to jump 

 the most ugly and impossible-looking fences from a 

 stand, and thus, even at the end of a long run, his 

 horses were, comparatively speaking, fresh. Nor can 

 anyone argue from the foregoing that the pace was 

 ever slow. Whyte - Melville, in his 'Songs and 

 Verses,' writes * The tail of a comet's, a joke to the 

 Ward.' 



I took the hint from Mr. Morrogh's system, and in 

 like manner trained my own horses, and produced 

 many a slow-jumping ' wonder,' and in consequence 

 saw the end of many a twenty-five-mile rim, I have 

 known as many as seven horses which were allowed to 

 'fly' their fences die after such a run, and some of 

 them succumbed before we had gone many miles. 

 Nearly every horse, if he is afforded time to collect 

 himself, and is not distracted with whip and spur, will, 

 if properly trained, know how best to 'take off' and 

 '■ land ' safely. 



It is often astonishing how well a horse can measure 

 the distance to his ' take off,' if he is only allowed a 

 chance of doing so, and not rushed at his fence. 

 When he is over-hustled, his training and common 

 sense suffer complete demoralization. ' Over-anxious- 

 to-be-over' riders ruin more horses than enouo^h. If 

 a trained hunter is ridden fairly and temperately at his 



