TEACHING HORSES TO JUMP.
Before this instruction is commenced, the horse ought to be got under
control, and thoroughly well mouthed. We may begin to teach him to jump
in an enclosure, similar to that described on page 77: first of all,
making him circle and turn with the long reins on foot, at a smart trot.
A rounded log of wood, not less than 15 feet in length, and 10 inches or
more in diameter, may then be placed across the horse’s track, which
should have been made soft. If the animal shews a little reluctance to
face the obstacle, we may “work” him up to it with the reins, keeping
him straight by the pressure of the outward rein against his quarter,
as he turns from one side to the other, and stimulating him with the
voice and sound of the whip. If he persists in refusing, we should put
on the crupper leading-rein (see page 148), and after running him about,
and pulling him from side to side by it, a few times, in order to make
him understand its use, we should try to lead him over in this manner.
Or, having given it to an assistant to go on in front, we may give him
another trial with the long reins. In this, as in all other breaking
operations with the horse, we should exercise great patience, and should
renew our efforts again and again if we do not at first succeed. If the
animal “shews fight,” I would advise that the whip should be put aside
altogether; for the moment, according to my experience, its cut, or even
crack, fails to prompt him to go on, it will incite him to offer
increased resistance. Instead of its effect, we should employ that of
the long reins, in circling him, turning him sharply and backing him,
until he gives in, or until we are forced to employ stronger means. Mr.
John Hubert Moore, who taught me this admirable method for curing this
and other forms of jibbing, considers that its great efficacy is due to
the punishment inflicted on the animal’s mouth and hocks. Professor
Sample, however, holds that it is owing to the fact of the animal
imagining that he has no power to resist the command to go forward,
after having been forced to turn as the breaker wished. I may observe
that it is not the act of turning a jibber to the right and to the left
which will overcome his sulkiness, but its continued repetition; and
that the sharper this is done the better will be the effect. Hence, I am
inclined to think that the punishment theory is the right one. The horse
seems, as with the rope-twitch (see page 111), to fail to connect the
idea of pain, in this case, with the man who inflicts it, as he
undoubtedly does, when whipped, or spurred; and, probably, on that
account, yields the more readily to its influence.
If the animal prove thoroughly stubborn, and time be of consequence, he
should be made to lie down, and held with his head turned round (see
page 158), until he appears to “give in.” The driving gear should be
again put on, and another trial given. This process may have to be
repeated. Such strong measures will hardly ever be necessary, if we
commence with the fence low enough.
When putting the animal through the course of the discipline which I
have described, for overcoming stubbornness by the use of the long
reins, I have found that the good effect has been greatly increased, by
utilising the action of the outward rein on the pad.
The log may be gradually raised to a height of three feet, which will be
sufficient for the first lesson, and the horse made to jump freely, when
circling to the right, as well as to the left. A second fence may be
made on the other side of the enclosure, opposite to the first one.
When the horse has learned to jump with the outward rein low down, he
should be taught to do so with it resting on the pad; as it will then
be, more or less, in the position it will occupy, when held by the
rider.
By teaching a horse in an enclosure, he will be free from outside
disturbing influences, and, having become accustomed to go round the
track, will the more readily jump any obstacle placed across it.
By this method, horses may quickly learn to jump, and not alone to clear
the obstacle, but also to negotiate it in the exact style they are
required to do, when a man is on their back. The more horses are
practised in this manner, the more they appear to like jumping, and very
rarely exhibit, as they will do with a rider, any dislike to the work,
from numerous repetitions, backwards and forwards, over the same fence.
The old plan of teaching a horse to jump by leading him over fences with
a cavesson and one or two leading-reins, is an abomination that no
horseman should perpetrate; for its tendency is to make the animal jump
in the very way he ought not to do, namely, with the weight on the
fore-hand, and not on the hind-quarters. Besides this, horses are very
apt to resist any forward pull on either cavesson or head-stall. The
action of the crupper leading-rein, on the contrary, while leaving the
head entirely free, is to make the horse get his hind-legs well under
him, as we may see by the way he throws up his hind-quarters, when being
led by it over a fence. We all have, of course, heard the well-founded
objection to the use of the cavesson and leading-rein for teaching
horses to jump, that it makes them slow to “get away” on landing over a
fence; a fault, no doubt, caused by the habit of having the weight on
the fore-hand. If we want a horse to jump “big” and “get away” quick, we
must “catch a good hold of his head;” the very opposite of which is done
by the cavesson method.
The system of turning horses loose into a small circular course, fenced
in and provided with obstacles, and then making them jump with a long
whip, is good as far as it goes; but neither it, nor the lunging plan,
has any pretensions to teaching obedience to the rein when jumping,
without which a safe and clever style is unattainable.
By using a circular track, the horse can be taught to jump at any pace,
and the nature of the fences, which should never be made weak enough to
“chance,” varied as may be desired. The breaker might have three
circles, each containing three jumps of different kinds; for instance, a
post and rails, water jump, hurdle, double bank, stone wall, hedge, open
ditch, ditch and bank, and bank and ditch.
Two or three lessons of this sort will be sufficient to make the
generality of horses clever enough to carry a rider in good style. The
horse should then be saddled; a man or boy put up, without giving him,
at first, any reins to hold; and the horse driven over the fences, as
before. When the breaker finds that the animal jumps as well with the
man up as he did without him, he may take off the long reins, put on the
ordinary ones, and hand them to the rider, who should then take the
horse over the fences as before; the breaker using the crack of the
whip, as a stimulus, if required. The rider should not be given spurs,
unless he is a fine horseman, and unless the horse requires them to make
him more lively; but not as a means for overcoming any reluctance he may
have to jumping, which should be accomplished in the manner I have laid
down.
After the animal has learned all we can teach him in our enclosures, he
should be made over to a good rider, to school him in the country, and,
if possible, with hounds.
I need hardly say, that a horse should not be jumped, if he is at all
sore on his legs or feet.
This plan of schooling horses over a circular line of fences, was, in
my case, the natural outcome of the practice I adopted during my various
tours, of breaking horses in a square enclosure of about 20 yards side.
I have never seen or heard of it done by any one else, except those I
have taught; although it could hardly fail to suggest itself to a person
accustomed to drive horses on foot, in a confined space, with the object
of teaching them to jump.
One great advantage, among many others, of teaching a horse to jump in
the way I have detailed, is, that, by circling and turning the animal in
front of the fences, we can cure him of all impetuosity caused by their
proximity, and, at the same time, make him willing to jump, with
thorough light-heartedness, the moment he receives the indication from
the rein to go straight, and clear the obstacle. We can all understand,
how valuable such training is, for the hunter and trooper.