132 STEEPLECHASE RIDING. 



ride as he thinks fit. If the ground is dusty, as so 

 often happens in India, it is all important to get well 

 away at the drop of the flag. 



A jockey should take his own line, and should not 

 ride close in the track of any other horse, for, if he does 

 so, he will, in the event of his leader making a mistake, 

 run a great risk of coming to grief, with the off chance of 

 jumping on and perhaps killing his man. 



Besides that, his horse will not be able to see his fences 

 properly if he has another right in front of him. If the 

 rider is on a horse which has a fine turn of speed, but is 

 one that requires a lead, he may keep thirty or forty 

 yards behind any clever fencer which is going fast 

 enough. 



The jockey may stand in his stirrups between the 

 fences, so as to give the utmost freedom to the horse's 

 loins and hind quarters, in which lie the propelling 

 power, but should sit down in his saddle when he 

 approaches them ; for if the horse makes a blunder 

 when the rider is leaning forward, the animal is much 

 more liable to come down and the rider to come off, 

 than they would be were the weight not on the horse's 

 fore legs. 



Unless the field are racing very fast, the jockey 



