92 HORSEMANSHIP. 



down into his saddle — is to take such a long hold of the 

 reins that the hands are brought back as far as the rider's 

 hips. This ensures plenty of scope, for not only are there 

 several inches more length of rein, but the elbows being bent 

 there is the additional play of a straightened against a flexed 

 arm. The horse, as he goes over and reverses, will avail 

 himself of the slack ; the hands, as his fore-feet reach the 

 ground, will, without any wrench, be drawn in front of the 

 body over the pommel of the saddle, and the seat will not 

 have been disturbed. 



After some practice the beginner should learn to drop 

 the reins altogether, to go over the fence with his hands 

 in his pockets, or "trussed" with a walking stick passing 

 across his back and between his elbows after the manner of 

 the back board. Having practised with stirrups he should, 

 as confidence comes, endeavour to do without them. The 

 height of the fence will be increased by degrees, and the 

 pace at which it is ridden at varied. He will walk quietly 

 up to it and let the horse take it standing, or he may take 

 it at a trot, both of which operations will be found very 

 different from the easy swing of the canter, and especially 

 so if the horse be short in back and body, and what is termed 

 a buck leaper. 



Almost any horse, particularly a fresh one, full of jumping 

 powder and " beany," or a youngster full of life, if cantered 

 at a small prickly fence will skip at least fourteen feet, land- 

 ing as light as a feather, without his rider feeling aught but 

 a pleasurable sail through the air; but the upright rear, 

 followed by immediate reversion, coupled with the violent 

 effort and hoist of the propellers is a motion of a very 

 different and much more ?^/zseating kind. The shock to the 

 rider, till he learns how to accommodate himself to the jerk of 

 the descent, is considerable, and this adapting of the body 



