126 HORSE MANAGEMENT IN INDIA 



"My system of teaching horses to jump is to avoid 

 the whip and all harsh treatment in the preliminary 

 lessons. I generally ride an old hunter out with the 

 young one, and take a few easy fences, while the groom 

 follows, leading the pupil with a long rein and cavesson. 

 As a rule, the young one readily follows the other, espe- 

 cially if they have been companions at exercise. For the 

 first few trials, a man with a whip may go behind the 

 youngster and crack it after him ; but he should seldom 

 do more than give him a slight touch on the quarters if 

 he does not go over freely. If a young horse is punished 

 severely in his early lessons, he will for ever remember it, 

 and will probably learn to refuse, from associating in 

 his mind the cruelty he suffered with the sight of a fence. 

 I seldom make the animal jump the same fence more 

 than once ; then move on to another, and so on. By 

 varying the exercise, the young one will be induced to 

 take pleasure in his work, which he will generally do if 

 treated kindly, though firmly. After a very few lessons, 

 the colt may be ridden over his fences ; but he should 

 always, until he is fairly proficient, have a steady true 

 jumper to give him a lead. When a young horse is handy 

 at his fences, the sooner he is schooled with hounds the 

 better ; for there is nothing that makes a horse jump with 

 such freedom and goodwill as following them. A short 

 time ago, after teaching a colt of mine — a half-brother to 

 Cosmos — to jump, I put a stable lad on him and took him 

 to the Wards. At the very first fence, the crowd, at the 

 only practicable spot, shut him out; and as the hounds 

 were soon out of sight, he lagged behind, and I saw no 

 more of him until I went home. The boy then told me 



