The Life of a Great Sportsman 



at Epsom — one at the Spring Meeting, and the other the day 

 after the Derby — when there was no straight six furlongs, and 

 Tattenham Corner to come round soon after the start. 



No matter how good a man may be in the hunting field, he 

 will find race meetings a very difficult matter when he comes to 

 try his 'prentice hand, and may take it from me, that before he 

 can hope to compete with the best professional riders, whether 

 over a country or on the flat, nothing will avail him but 

 constant practice in the manner I have just described. 



Another matter of great importance is to have your horse 

 bitted with a bridle that suits his mouth. 



On the flat, this is not of so much consequence ; but it 

 makes all the difference in a steeplechase to have your horse 

 well balanced when jumping, and having perfect control over 

 him all through the race. Should he — as is not unfrequently 

 the case — get the upper hand and break away with his rider 

 when the starter drops his flag, not only does he tire his jockey, 

 but he soon runs himself out and fails to stay home. 



Nothing is more trying than to ride a hard-pulling horse in 

 a long race like the Grand National, and in such a case it is 

 long odds against the horse staying the distance. 



On the other hand, with your horse under proper control, 

 you can always keep him going within himself, with the result 

 that he will stay on to the end. 



A bridle I was always very fond of was two snaffles, and if 

 on an extra puller, such as Reugny, whom I rode in one of that 

 description, a chain snaffle and a gag. 



How often one hears of a stirrup-leather breaking — as 

 likely as not at the initiative fence ! No one who has not gone 

 through this experience has any idea how tiring it is to the 

 thigh having to ride through a race with only one stirrup. I 

 have a very vivid remembrance of a ride I once had in the Open 



222 



