Indecision at the first two jumps may cost one dearly, for during that moment of hesitation hounds slip away, horses crowd one another and begin to refuse, while the few who make the most of their opportunities ride on ahead with the hounds. Much hard galloping may retrieve the lost ground, but a stern chase is always disheartening to horse and rider. By getting away in front, both are encouraged, and start with mutual good-will and satisfaction—relations which should always exist between a hunter and his rider.
Indecision
If, after pointing her horse's head at a certain part of a jump, she thinks another place is more inviting, she must not change her course, unless certain that she can do so without inconveniencing some one else who may have been going straight at it.
It is inexcusable to turn from one place to another by cutting in ahead of following riders. It throws their horses out of their stride, and may force them to pull up in order to avoid a collision. Therefore, in suddenly changing her direction, a woman must assure herself that she is at least half a dozen lengths in front of her follower, who is going straight, or she must wait until she has been passed.
Right of Way
When a horse refuses, the rule is that the rider shall immediately pull out and give the next a chance to jump. This is so often overlooked in the field, that a few words seem desirable to impress its importance upon the minds of those who hunt.
Women particularly seem to consider themselves privileged to keep their horse at a fence while he refuses at each trial, blocking the way, if there is no other place to jump, of those in their rear. Frequently, when her horse refuses, his rider thinks there is time to try it again before the next one reaches the place; she puts him at the fence, in her hurry turning him so short he could not jump if he wanted to, and the result is that he stops just as the other horse arrives, whose rider is thereby obliged to pull up.
Had the woman pulled to one side in the first place, and waited until her follower had given her horse a lead, which would probably have induced him to jump, both would have been in the next field much sooner than her impatience in the first instance eventually permitted.
Funk
A horse should not be ridden behind one that is likely to refuse, or he may be inclined to imitate the misdoings of his predecessor.