120 TAKING A PENCE. 



know quite as well as yourself, or better, where 

 and how to take off. Horses, when fresh, go fast 

 enough at their leaps, with sufficient impetus to 

 clear a ditch on the off side, without whip or 

 spur. The former should never be used, and the 

 latter very rarely ; a pat on the neck, and a few 

 words of encouragement to a generous animal, 

 being much more efficacious than such unplea- 

 sant and unnecessary stimulants. There are some 

 who advise a horse's head to be held firmly till 

 in the act of rising at his fence, from which prac- 

 tice I must beg to dissent. A horse's speed, if 

 necessary to be slackened, should be moderated 

 some few strides before reacldng the fence ; but 

 his head should then invariably be at liberty to 

 take it in his own style ; and in the act of leap- 

 ing, the rider, by throwing himself a little back- 

 ward in the saddle, may give a sufficient strain 

 on the bit to prevent his horse floundering on 

 the other side, were he inclined to do so. 



I am no advocate for that pully-hauley system 

 which prescribes the necessity of a man's carry- 

 ing his horse, instead of the horse carrying him 

 — which, although it may be applicable to a raw 

 five-year-old, is not to be practised with a made 

 hunter ; and even with a raw five-year-old, it is 

 far better to put a rough rider on his back, with 



