HORSEMANSHIP.] HORSE 197 Now, assuming the beginner to have acquired some pro ficiency in riding, and to have had a little practice over the leaping bar, he may be desirous of making his h rst appearance with hounds, and the question then arises how is the hacking-seat to be exchanged for the hunting one, of which he will probably have heard a great deal, and have seen some very extraordinary specimens. ie For practical purposes the chief difference between a mting park seat and a hunting one consists in the substitution of at boots and breeches for trousers, and the shortening of the stirrups some two or three holes. Next to that of a jockey, the seat of the hunting man is the most important of any connected with amusement ; he must sit firm, so as not to be thrown off when his horse leaps, or makes a slight mistake, technically called " pecking," on landing after jumping a fence, and so as to be able to handle his horse delicately under all circumstances, and to make as much of him as possible. As with road riding, so with hunting, the actual length of the stirrups will depend a good deal upon the form and action of the horse, but the nature of the animal and the peculiarities of the country ridden over will also have something to do with their adjustment. A puller will compel the rider to pull up his leathers one or perhaps two extra holes a course that may also be rendered necessary in a hilly country, for, in going down hill, the stirrups, if kept at the ordinary length, will generally feel a great deal too long. The rider s body must be kept close to the saddle in leaping, for if he were jerked up, the weight of say only a 10-stone man coming down on the horse a couple of seconds after he has negotiated a large fence is sufficient to throw him down. Nothing but actual practice with hounds can teich a man the kind of horsemanship required for hunting where land of all kinds has to be ridden over, and obstacles of various sorts, natural and artificial, have to be encoun tered. Considerable progress may, as already stated, be made in seat and hands within the four walls of a good riding school, but as the art of warfare must be learned on active service, and not on the parade ground, so nothing but actual practice in the hunting field will teach a man that kind of horsemanship adapted to the ever-varying conditions and different situations to be met with in a single day s hunting. For example, the ground gone over is not always the level springy turf of the race-course ; it is up hill and down dale, across ridge and furrow, over ground studded with ant-hills (which, unlike mole-hills, are often very hard), over ploughed lands, and in boggy countries. Now each of these varieties requires a different method of riding over, and nearly every horse will require different handling under similar circum stances ; some can go well through the dirt, while others can only go on the top of the ground ; some will require Musing at their fences, while others will want quieting. od It will therefore be seen that much depends on the rider ids. having good hands. This qualification, though generally understood, is very difficult to define. A rider with good hands never depends upon his reins for retaining his seat; nor does he pull at the horse s mouth so as to make him afraid to go up to his bit ; nor again does he ever use any more force than is necessary for the accomplishment of what he desires to perform. But besides all this, there is an unaccountable something about the man with good hands that cannot be described. Pullers appear to renounce pulling, refusers take to jumping, and clumsy horses appear nearly as handy as a trick horse in a circus. Though "hands" can to a great extent be acquired by care and practice, yet in the highest form it is a gift like the " hand for crust " which is denied to many cooks and cannot be learned. ices. There are different kinds of " fences," as all obstacles are genetically called. First, there is timber, such asgates, stiles, and rails ; the first two are, nine times out of ten, awkward jumps, as the take off is either poached by cattle, or else is on the ascent or descent. Hedges vary according to the custom of the country in which they are found : they either grow in the soil of the field, and are protected by a ditch on one side, or are planted on a bank with a ditch on one side or sometimes on both. The rider may here be reminded that if a bank is high and the ditch before it but small, there is pretty certain to be another ditch on the far side, for the bank is made by throwing up the earth taken from the ditches. Then again there are the large banks found in Wales, Devon, and Cornwall. Lastly come water jumps, which are met with in two forms : the water is either within an inch or two of the top of the bank, so as to be about on a level with the field through which it flows, or there may be a space of some G or 7 feet from the bank to the water. For the successful negotiation of biooks a bold horse is required, ridden by a bold man. No fence that is ever encountered stops such a large proportion of the field as water ; even a clear 6 feet of it will prove a hindrance to some, while anything over 10 or 12 feet will in general be crossed only by a very few. Some horses, good performers over any other description of fence, will not jump water under any circumstances ; while the chance of a ducking deters many from riding at it ; and, however bold the horse may be, he will soon refuse watef if his rider be perpetually in two minds when approaching a brook. The pace at which a hunter should be ridden at his fences depends upon the nature of the fence itself, and the peculiarities of each individual horse. With some very | good jumpers they can hardly be called good hunters to steady them is to bid for a fall, while with some very clever hunters to hurry them is to bring them to grief. With ordinary horses, h >wever, it is a good general rule to ride at fences of all descriptions as slowly as the nature of the obstacle admits. In grass countries, where " flying fences " are found, the rate of speed must of necessity be quicker than when about to take a Devonshire bank of some 7 feet high, but even at a flying fence the rider should steady his horse so as to contract the length of his i stride, in order that he may measure the distance for taking off with greater accuracy. Flying fences consist of a hedge with or without a post and rail, and with or without a ditch on one or both sides; consequently a horse has to jump both high and wide to clear them. But in jumping a gate, or a flight of rails, as ordinarily situated, there is no width to be covered, and to make a horse go through the exertion of jumping both high and wide when he need only do one is to waste hi power, added to which to ride fast at timber, unless very low wth a ditch on the landing side, is highly dangerous. All hedges on banks, banks, and doubles must be ridden at slowly ; they are usually of such a size as to make flying them impossible, or at least undesirable. Horses jump them on and off, and in taking them at a moderate pace there is a chance of stopping on the top and choosing a better place to jump from, or, if needs be, of returning and taking the fence at another place. Cramped places will have to be jumped from a walk or even at a stand ; for instance, a tree may be in a line with and close to the only practicable place in a fence ; it then becomes necessary to go round the tree before a run at the place can be managed. So, too, with places that have to be crawled over between trees, or with dykes to be crawled down. In jumping an ordinary hedge or ditch at moderate speed, there is of course a moment of time during which the horse is on his hind legs, and in theory the rider should then lean forward, but, in practice, this position is so momentary, and
the lash out of the hind legs in the spring is so powerful,
