RIDING AT IT
In fencing, the snaffle or bridoon bit and rein only ought to be used; this the rider should particularly bear in mind. A rider with a hold of the curb-rein in fencing, getting the least out of his equilibrium, or giving an involuntary check to the curb, may put any well-mouthed animal entirely out of his own way, preventing his jumping safely and confidently, and probably causing accidents. One of several reasons why the Irish horses excel in fencing is, that it is very much the custom in that country to use snaffles in cross-country riding. The curb-rein may be taken up, if necessary, after the jump is over. (Some horses, however, are such violent pullers, that, in the full tilt of going to hounds, where the country is close and fencing frequent, it is almost impossible to avoid using the curb-rein occasionally in the act of jumping.)
While touching on cross-country riding, it may be observed that many men who ought to know better, often make a serious mistake in not leaving hunters more to themselves than they do when going at and taking their fences. Horses vary in their mode of progression; and whether the gait be slow or fast, anything of a trained animal, when interfered with under these circumstances, will be put out of his own way (which is generally best suited to his peculiar temper or ability), in placing his legs advantageously to make his jump with safety.[20]
Let your horse, if he is anything of a fencer, choose his own way and pace to take his jumps.
In riding to hounds, if practicable, it is well to avoid newly made or repaired ditches or fences; your steed is apt to encounter such with diffidence; he does not take the jump with the same will, fears there’s “something up,” and from want of confidence may very possibly make a mistake.
It would be well, for cross-country horsemen more especially, to bear in mind Sir Francis Head’s observation, as applied to riders as well as horses, that “the belly lifts the legs;” meaning, I take it, that if man or horse is out of tone from derangement of the stomach or general debility, he cannot be up to the mark or fit for any physical exertion. It is well known to steeplechase riders and men who ride straight to hounds, that occasionally, in consequence of inertion, indulgence, or dissipation, having deranged the stomach or nervous system, a rider will be done up before his steed, who, oppressed with a comparatively dead weight knocking about on his back, will himself follow suit from want of being held together, and probably come a burster at some jump before the finish.
To a practical horseman the act of standing in the stirrups will suggest itself as a matter of expediency to ease himself, when the horse is pulling hard at or near his full galloping pace.
The great advantage of a rider easing his bearer by walking up-hill is treated of under the head of “Work,” [page 36].
When a rider finds his horse going tender or lame, he ought immediately to dismount and examine his feet. If a stone has become bedded between the clefts of the frog, or got between shoe and sole, and a picker does not happen to be at hand, a suitable stone should be sought wherewith to dislodge the one in the foot. If no stone in the foot can be discovered as causing the lameness, closer examination must be made in search of a nail, a piece of iron or rough glass, or other damage to the sole. If no apparent means of relief present itself, the sooner the beast is led to the nearest place where a proper examination of the foot can take place the better.[21] For the amount of work a horse can do, see remarks on that subject, under the head of “Work,” [page 35]; and to avoid broken knees, see hints on that subject, [pages 51] and [141].