50 [CHAP. 



CHAPTER IV. 



MECHANICAL AID OF THE EIDER. 



The rider cannot raise the falling horse. Harm is done by the attempt. 

 The bearing rein. Mechanical assistance of the jockey to his horse. 

 Standing on the stirrups. Difference between the gallop and the 

 leap. Steeple-chases and hurdle-races unfair on the horse. The 

 rider should not attempt to lift his horse at a fence. 



The rider There is no more common error than to believe that 



cannot raise 



horse. " ' * ne rider can hold his horse up when he is falling. How 

 often do we hear a man assert that his horse would have 

 been down with him forty times if he had not held 

 him up ; that he has taken his horse up between his 

 hands and legs and lifted him over a fence ; or that he 

 has recovered his horse on the other side ! 



These are vulgar errors, and mechanical impossibilities. 

 Could ten men, with hand-spikes, lift the weight of a 

 horse ? Probably. Attach the weight to the thin rein of 



