ders doubtless saw the Grand National of 1900, and how poor
Hidden Mystery, who, after he had fallen and had unshipped his rider,
jumped the fences with safety to himself and the field. Such sights must
show how necessary it is for us to interfere as little as possible with
our horses when riding them over fences.

If most horses dislike jumping, it is certain that they love hunting and
will exert every effort to keep in touch with hounds. Those who doubt
this should ride a young horse, and note how anxious he is to try and
keep with hounds and how, with the fearlessness of ignorance he would
charge any fence and probably kill both himself and his rider, if he
were permitted to urge on his wild career. Blow a hunting horn near a
stable where there are hunters, and then listen to the snorting, kicking
and excitement which your action has aroused; but it is unwise to repeat
the experiment, for the chances are that the excited war horses inside
may do some damage in their frantic efforts to get out and follow the
music. Watch farmers' horses loose in a field when hounds are in the
vicinity, and you will see them careering madly up and down, as if they
too would like to join in hunting the fox, although their avocation in
life dooms them to the placid work of drawing a plough or heavy cart.
As in horses so in men, and those who possess the sporting instinct
will run many miles in the hope of catching a glimpse of a hunt, even
though they may never be able to follow hounds on horseback. These foot
people are not welcomed in any hunting field, but there is no denying
that they are keen on the sport, or they would not tire themselves as
they do, in their efforts to see something of it. Jorrocks says: "I
often thinks, could the keen foot-folks change places with the
fumigatin' yards o' leather and scarlet, wot a much better chance there
would be for the chase! They, at all events, come out from a genuine
inclination for the sport, and not for mere show sake, as too many do."

If a lady has the misfortune to own a hunter who, on refusing a fence,
shows an inclination to rear on being brought up to it again, my advice
would be to sell him, as rearing is of all equine vices the most
dangerous, and a woman in a side-saddle is unable to slip off over the
tail of a horse who is standing on his hind legs, a feat I have seen
accomplished by men. Besides, a horse who will try to rear at a fence
instead of jumping it, will be sure to rev