SADDLERY. 157 



bandage. The plain flap is cheaper than the stuffed one, 

 looks more workmanlike, wears longer, after a wet day dries 

 more quickly, and is much the more pleasant of the two to 

 ride on. When, in the case of a tall and especially of a light- 

 legged man knee stuffing is patronized, he should order his 

 saddler to carry the knee roll well down to the lower portion 

 of the saddle flap. It stands to reason that the knee and 

 shin of a six-footer must come much lower down on the flap 

 than those of a dumpy. 



^Messrs. Champion and Wilton have recently applied the 

 principle of cutting away the front part of the Tree, which 

 has proved so successful to their side saddles. The new 

 pattern, called the " Lane Fox," after the veteran master of 

 the'^Bramham Moor Fox Hounds, gives the rider, as nearly 

 as possible, a flat seat, adds greatly to his comfort, renders 

 sore withers impossible, and adds to the appearance. 



The same firm fit their patent safety-bar to any saddles. 

 That well-known authority who writes under the pseudonym, 

 " Brooksby," speaking of this invaluable invention, the out- 

 come of long and close attention to the difficult problem, 

 says, " I have at various tim.es tested nearly every description 

 of invention in this line, and up till now with the result that 

 I threw away each in turn, preferring the risk of being hung 

 up to the liability of finding myself stirrupless at least after 

 every fall, and often without a fall at all. The stirrups would 

 come away when I was fiot to be dragged ; and on three 

 different occasions, in my search for safety, I found myself 

 called upon to enjoy to the full the luxury of riding a whole 

 run with a single stirrup — in each instance, too, upon a horse 

 that was only too ready to utilize the opportunity. Messrs. 

 Champion and Wilton have spent five years in attempting to 

 overcome the difficulty ; and as I have fully tested and dis- 

 carded their earlier shortcomings, as well as those of other 



