lady should never put her mount at a fence which she is not certain he
is able to jump, for it is better to be a coward than a corpse, and even
if she is pounded and loses a run, both she and her horse have plenty
more good hunting days in store. Some hunters will refuse a fence at
which they see the horse in front of them come to grief, and as it is
only natural that any horse with brains should feel more or less
frightened at such times, his rider should sympathise with him and
encourage him to make an effort, in much the same way as we would coax a
child to take a dose of medicine. Few horses like jumping. Whoever saw
animals at liberty larking over fences from sheer delight in leaping? It
takes a deal of time and patience to make a good fencer, although, of
course, some horses learn the art much more quickly than others.
Although few horses enjoy jumping, they, luckily for us, detest falling,
and I feel sure that if people would only leave their mouths alone and
regard the use of the curb at fences as a death-trap, we should hear of
far fewer falls in the hunting field. Captain Elmhirst truly says:
"Horses are very sage at saving themselves and consequently you. They
care little for the coward on their back; but for their own convenience
they won't fall if they can help it." To prove this I may relate the
following interesting and instructive fact: Some years ago I was giving,
at Ward's Riding School, Brompton Road, London, practical demonstrations
of riding over fences without reins, my husband driving on foot a horse
which he had taught to jump, with the long reins. When my part of the
show ended, a single pole was raised to a height of five feet, and
Gustave, which was the name of this amiable grey horse, was asked to go
and jump that fence by himself. He was allowed only a short run at it,
as the school is not a large one, but in his desire to obey orders he
would canter up to the pole, and if he considered that he had misjudged
his correct distance for taking off, he would go back of his own accord
and take another run at it. My husband was as much surprised as I was
when we first saw the horse do this, as we had not credited him with so
much intelligence. Therefore, when I hear people talking about
"lifting" and "assisting" horses over their fences, I cannot help
thinking that if they lifted themselves off their backs they would see
how much better horses are able to jump without their assistance. Many
of my rea