44 LETTERS TO YOUNG SPORTSMEN. 



it thoroughly with soap and water, this before it has time to 

 get shiny with the sweat from the horse. If you value 

 your horse and want to economise in sore backs and idle 

 days, have the saddles re-lined every season. It is worth it. 

 Let them be very thick and lofty in the stuffing at first, it 

 soon settles down. If by any chance the horse rolls when out 

 hunting or in the stable when the saddle is on his back, 

 see carefully that the tree is not broken. The tree is the 

 wooden, iron plated frame on which the saddle is built. If 

 this is broken the arch will flatten and the saddle gall the 

 horse. The care of sore backs and various improvisations 

 which allow us to hunt a horse with a tender, if not actually 

 sore, back, will come under horsemastership. The best 

 girth is the Fitzwilliam, made of drab webbing. The principle 

 is a wide band, with a narrower band on the top of it, the 

 narrow band going through loops on the wider one. If the 

 narrow band breaks, the wide one still retains the saddle in 

 place. If the wide one breaks, the narrow one holds the 

 saddle firm and the loops prevent the ends flapping about. 

 Folded leather girths are very good, because a thin well- 

 greased piece of felt can be kept inside and the girth thus 

 always remains soft and pliable. Have the stirrup irons as 

 wide as you can get them, narrow ones are extremely 

 dangerous. Have them heavy, and then, on falling, their own 

 weight swings them clear and your foot is not caught. All 

 the devices for release of the leather or iron made to prevent 

 the foot being caught and held are all right in the saddler's 

 shop, but do not work so well in practice or are apt to come off 

 just when not wanted. A straight bar on the saddle, with 

 the catch down, is good enough for anyone who does not 

 anticipate disaster at every movement of the horse. A 

 breastplate is not needed on a well shaped horse ; if he gets 

 very tucked up late in the season it may be well to use one, 

 not otherwise If a horse needs a crupper, his place is in a 

 'bus, not out hunting. 



