SFCr/^S. Si 



Constant practice in this last mode of dismounting will be 

 useful in teaching that, in the hunting-field, very essential 

 knack of falling clear of one's horse. 



Spurs. 



'*He tires betimes, who spurs too fast betimes." 



Parash^ the ancient Egyptian for " rider," is said to have 

 been derived from the Hebrew root, to prick or spur ; so 

 that '' the persuaders " have been used and abused for some 

 three thousand years. I wonder how many accidents have 

 occurred during the past centuries, how many good horses 

 have been ruined, how much money lost, and how much 

 devilish temper and bile let off, by the cruel, needless, sense- 

 less application of the armed heel ? In horsemanship there 

 is no subject more worthy of consideration than this use 

 and abuse of the spur ; and I was pleased to find that a 

 well-known and thoroughly competent sporting writer, 

 " Borderer," had, in an article in Baily's MagaziJie, written 

 with his usual force on the cruelties perpetrated by many 

 riders, male and female, by the untimely and far too free 

 application of the rowels. Though Frederick the Great 

 was of opinion that his troopers did more execution with 

 their heels than with their sabres, and that the horses' weight 

 and initial velocity made more impression on either cavalry 

 or infantry than the keenest blade or the sharpest-pointed 

 lance, we are not now writing with a view to charge squares, 

 or, like our heavies at Balaclava, to ride clean through a 

 serried column of dragoons. Moreover, we are of opinion 

 that spurless horsemen, mounted on well-bred chargers, if 

 their hearts be in the right place, can ride through any 

 square or mass of men, provided they get within striking 

 distance alive — a contingency of some considerable difficulty 



G 



