The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-11-15
EVOLUTION OFA HUNTER
EDUCATION THAT PREPARES
 HIM FOR FUTURE CAREER.
W. Calvert Tells of the Process by Which Irish Colts Brings "Hun- dreds" of Guineas-On
 Sound Principles.

of fellow equines. immigrants like him.
 self from the Emerald isle.
 Wild, unkempt. and with a disquieting freedom about his heels, he certainly at- tracted attention, but it was not that of likely purchasers, and as the valuable
 Irish dealer saw his drove of yearlings gradually dwindIe he began to regard in
 the light of bad speculation the weedy
 colt he had picked up cheaply in the | widls of Kildare.
 | A keen eye for latent possibilities how ever saw beyond the razor-like back, the slack Joins, the angular shoulders, and
 the unshapely arms and thighs. His legs
 were fiat and clean, his hooks straight
 and business-like. and his lean, symmet- rical head betokened thorough bred an- 1 cestry.
 Three 5-pound notes, minus 5 shillings for luck affected his removal from the 1 herd. and as all the adroitness of the | Irish droyers failed to associate his hetd
 with halter he was driven like a steer through the ibustling streets and many miles into the country to his new home lAa the quiet Lincolnshire farm. The lads dubbed him "Roentgen Rays"
 from his near approach to transparency,
 but he belied the name after a summer s
 run in a rich pasture and a winter in a
 sheltered strawyard.
 ' Then fin the early spring. when the ground was soft and yielding from the winters rains. was commenced the edu- cation that should fit him for his future career as a hunter. Here let me state that the whole of his training was carried out on principles which, if generally followed, would go far
 toward preserving that natural dash and spirit so deficient in the majority of our so-called trained horses. He was never d. f~ nI ( AI~oA |. By degrees the colt came to realize that he suffered no harm from the presence
 of a man by his side while feeding, and
 also that no serious results followed the stroking of his neck and shoulders. It was some time before he would permit | any liberties to be taken with his head horse recognizes instinctively that here In lies his vulnerability.
 On a long rein he was coaxed one morn- ing into a plowed field. The limit of his tether allowed ample scope for his gam bols, but these were not of long dura- | tion, for the field was deep and holding, and he soon submitted to the guidance of a rein on either side.
 The next step was to girth him. He | resented this strongly at first, but the sobering influence of the heavy ground | and the gentle restraint of bit and rein soon made him indifferent to the grip of the surcingle Then followed a light | saddle, on which, after a few days, was | fixed a bag of sand. When ha had grown accustomed to weight carrying, the
 sandbag was removed one morning after
 the usual parade in the field, lad was
 hoisted into the saddle and was carried proudly home.
 At this stage ensues a series of danity
 rambles at walking pace along country
 lanes in the company of an older and
 more staid companion, in order to accus-
 tom him to familiar objects.
 Then in early June when the grass was l green and lush in the pastures, his first
 term of education terminated, and for a year he browsed in field and straw yard. l free from bridle and saddle
 He came up grown and shapely, deep-
 chested, bright of eye, and with thews
 of an OK. His owner looked him over ad- miringly, and marked him as a handful for the first rider he attempted to dis
 lodge. And so it proved. He gave an ex- hibition that would not have disgraced a | Wild West show
 | Fortunately, our colt had mouth and
 he never got his head below the horizon
 tai. Slowly, by judicious handling, he
 was let out into a gallop, when the hold ing ground soontold its tale, and he pull
 ed up voluntarily. He never made anoth-
 CT sustained attempt to rid himself of d
 rider.
 | His leaping education came next Like
 most Irish horses, he liked jumping He
 Was agile as a cat, and the great difficulty
 was to keep him cool and within bounds
 It may not be out of place 10 rema rk l on common error in training "leppers T" { The general impression is that horse | jumps bigger when given long run and | allowed to go fast up to his fences The | impetus may enable him to take a wider | leap, and he Is also easier to sit, but the
 safest and cleanest jumpers are those | who steady down and pick their way | over an obsthacle. Old Shamrock of Lin | colnshire fame, perhaps the best of all
 around exhibition jumpers that ever marked hoof prints on grass, would stand 1 fifteen feet from a six-foot gate, take
 two short steps and clear 1t wit hease- l ridden or free.
 | When our colt once acquired the art of 1 measuring his strides up to a fence, his
 progress in jumping was rapid. Water, walls, timber, ditch facing, ditch off
 double in and out-he took them all as
 the proverbial duck takes to water. It
 seemed impossible to bring him down.
 In the meantime his paces were be-
 coming more defined. At first he pos | sessed only two-a walk and a gaIlop | His trot was loose amble, and in his canter he lurched like a badly trimmed | ship, By holding him together the trot | soon became rythmic rise and fall, each | foot moving to that imperceptible test | of the ground before the weight is trust | ed, and the canter resolved itself into an | easy, elastic swing, gentle and regular as | the motion of a boat on smooth sea. | Practice made him handy at gates: he grew indifferent to the crack of a whip,
 and the presence of terriers and fox | hound puppies about his legs when in the 1 stable soon overcame his inclination to
 lash out at anything that came within
 reach of his heels. A horse that kicks at | hounds is an abomination.
 ! Two mornings a week with the pack | during clubbing operations made him | temperate and cool in the field, and reg
 ular exercise and good living had put
 him into hard condition when the season
 opened in November.
 | His legs were cool and hard as bars of
 steel; his sinews were like whicord. and and quarters with every movement He
 looked. as his owner described him, "a | gentleman all over"
 | Ridden by a lad who knew his buisness.
 he was aorded no chrance of gaining dis
 tinction until particular day when
 hounds got away on the track of a good
 fox, and headed for a stretch of big coun- try Then, in full view of the whole | field. he cleverly cleared some formidable
 timber and secured lead, and until
 hounds pulled down their fox Sfter n
 glorious burst of fifteen minutes the
 straight riders. from a position in the
 rear, had excellent opportunities for ob-