12 HORSES FOR LADIES. 



from me. When I rode him, I found he was always 

 looking out for an excuse to " play up," or to lash out 

 at other horses. In order to test his jumping, a light- 

 weight gentleman rider one day rode him over a made 

 course. The animal blundered badly at one of the 

 fences, threw his rider, and while the man was lying on 

 his back on the ground the horse deliberately put a 

 fore foot on him, and would have doubtless broken his 

 back, if my husband, who was standing near the fence, 

 had not pulled the vicious brute off. We got rid of 

 him, and I heard shortly afterwards that he had killed 

 his jockey, a native, in a hurdle race at Calcutta, by 

 the adoption of similar vicious tactics. It would have 

 been criminal to have taken such a horse as that into 

 any hunting-field. 



A hunter should have good shoulders (long, flat, 

 and oblique) and a comparatively high forehand ; for 

 horses which are lower in front than at the croup are 

 uncomfortable to ride, and there is generally some 

 difficulty in retaining the side saddle in its place on 

 their backs. The height of a hunter will depend 

 greatly on that of his rider. For instance, a tall 

 woman with a ''comfortable" figure would be suitably 

 mounted on a horse 16 hands or more high, whereas a 

 light girl of medium height would find an animal of 

 say 15-2 as much as she could comfortably manage ; 

 for we must remember that big horses, as a rule, take 

 a good deal of " collecting." A small horse generally 

 stays better, can come out oftener, is handier, and not 

 so likely to hurt one if he falls. For the Shires I do 



