On Conditioning Hunters 263 



harriers in front of him is the best inducement 

 in the world to make him take an interest in 

 his business. Horses usually love to see where 

 hounds are going ; and to quote Whyte-Mel- 

 ville, " this is why the hunting-field is such 

 a good school for leaping. Horses . . . are 

 prompted by some unaccountable impulse to 

 follow a pack of hounds, and the beginner 

 finds himself voluntarily performing feats of 

 activity and daring in accordance with the 

 will of his rider, which no coercion from the 

 latter would induce him to attempt. Flushed 

 with success, and, if fortunate enough to escape 

 a fall, confident in his lately discovered powers, 

 he finds a new pleasure in their exercise, and, 

 most precious of qualities in a hunter, grows 

 ' fond of jumping.' " 



Jumping schools like those of Mr. Arthur 

 Yates, at Bishop's Sutton, and Captain 

 Machell, at Kennett, are most useful for teach- 

 ing a horse to jump ; but such places are, of 

 course, not attainable, nor are they, indeed, 

 at all necessary, to the average man who is 

 schooling a young hunter. Much depends 



