44 HORSE-KEEPING FOR AMATEURS. 



him badly, that is nearly always responsible for the mischief. 

 Writing this reminds me of no less than four deaths which 

 have occurred, unfortunately, within my own personal experience, 

 one of them that of poor Gieville Nugent, "Mr. St. James," 

 than whom a pluckier steeplechase rider was never tossed into 

 a saddle — where the rider was quite uninjured by the fall 

 itself, but killed by injuries inflicted by his own or someone 

 else's horse. It will be well to bear this also in mind, that 

 the worst kind of fall is that for which the rider has no 

 excuse — i.e., when a horse is very much blown. Humanity 

 tells us not to ask a horse to rise to a fence in this condition, 

 and if we will — well, then we must take the consequences. 

 A beaten horse always falls "all of a heap," and quite helpless. 

 There is just this to say, that the man is generally freed from 

 the danger of a kick in such cases, the horse being too much 

 exhausted to struggle ; on the other hand, if you find him on 

 top of you, the probability is that, at least for the rest of 

 that season, " the subsequent proceedings will interest no 

 more," as Bret Harte observes. You may always know when 

 your horse has had enough of it ; his heaving sides and 

 laboured breathing, the peculiar " flop " of the ears, and 

 repeated changing of his leg, speak eloquently of his con- 

 dition, and the man who goes on after such warnings, does 

 so at his peril. When a horse falls through not jumping 

 high enough, and turns a complete somersault, the odds are 

 that man and beast will land on their respective backs ; if 

 so, and the horse rolls over away from his rider, no harm is 

 likely to result. If, however, he should roll over you, 

 obviously the consequences may be serious, and possibly fatal, 

 although I once sustained such a fall from a steeplechase 

 horse, and beyond being badly cut about the head, and feeling 

 slightly "flattened out," escaped uninjured. Nevertheless, I 

 cannot conscientiously recommend it as a pleasant method of 

 passing the time. 



Many men still stick to the old-fashioned method of throwing 

 up the right hand in the air as they take a leap ; why, I 

 never could make out. You want both your hands, as your 

 horse lands over his fence, to collect and assist him. Not 

 only that, but throwing your whip hand in the air must alter 

 the position of your body at the critical moment, when your 

 horse is "taking off." Can anything be more likely to cause 

 a flounder, if not a fall ? Watch a first-rate steeplechase jockey 



