Should the horse not bend the fore legs to his satisfaction, the trainer should touch the fore legs with the whip just below the knee as the horse rises; and should the horse be careless in the action of the hind legs, a whip stroke under the belly will make the animal gather the hind legs under its body.
After the horse takes the hurdle with perfect calmness when held by the snaffle-reins, the trainer should accustom the animal to jump over the obstacle while on the longe-rein, the trainer being then twelve or fifteen feet away from the hurdle. Then, the horse being habituated to jump the narrow obstacle without reluctance, rugs, colored cloths, or anything of the kind that might ordinarily alarm a horse should be placed, first near the hurdle and then upon it, as the horse jumps it at the length of the longe-line.
The trainer should then mount and ride the horse over the bar fixed at two and a half feet. He should first take the horse up to the obstacle in a slow, collected trot, using the snaffle-reins, and when the horse is by its momentum committed to the jump, he should give it liberty to take off as it pleases and offer a light support as the forehand again comes to the ground. If the horse does not flex the hind legs sufficiently, a whip stroke behind the girths will induce it to bring the hind legs well under the body. But as far as is possible the use of whip or spur as the horse jumps should be avoided, and the animal should be mettlesome and lively when it approaches the obstacle, and be ready to exert itself with a will. The top bar should then be placed on the uprights, and the horse be ridden over the hurdle now three feet high, first in the slow trot, then from the halt, and finally from the slow gallop.
In the jump from the walk, the trot, and the slow gallop, the rider should incline his body slightly forward as the horse rises and bend his body back, more or less depending upon the height of the drop, as the forehand comes down,—his feet carried to the rear, so that there shall be no pressure against the stirrup to disturb the seat. Horses jump in all sorts of forms. Some horses do not rise until quite under the obstacle, when they squat down, go up almost perpendicularly, and drop on the other side quite as suddenly. Others take off at a fair distance, jump easily, and land steadily. The rider must be prepared, however, to bend his body in accordance with the movements of the horse.
In riding at a very high obstacle, the horse should be slowly collected at a moderate gallop; and when the horse has faced the leap, the rider's hand should give the animal liberty to act freely, and as it alights he should offer some support.
I think that nearly every work on riding warns the reader that one cannot raise the horse. It is true that in the state of collection in which most horses are ridden it would take a block and tackle to bring up the forehand; but what shall we call the pirouette, the curvet, the pesade, or even the support the rider gives the stumbling horse so that a leg may be put under the falling animal, but a raising of the forehand?
In jumping, however, the rider must not attempt to lift the horse; he must trust to the instincts of the animal necessary to clear the obstacle and for the disposition of its bearers to secure safety in landing.
After facing the horse to the jump, the rider should give the animal freedom of action, not by making such a change on the tension of the reins as might bring the animal down, but by giving his arms such play that the horse may extend itself. When the animal alights, it must find some support from the bit, so that in case of a peck or of a stumble the forehand can rise until a bearer comes under the centre of gravity and saves a fall. The bending back of the rider's body as the forehand reaches the ground is, of course, of great assistance in recovering from a misstep.
In taking low jumps at a racing pace, the rider need not lean back as the horse alights, for the momentum is so great that no change in the body of the rider is required.