142 



SADDLERY. 



through which the holes are punched should be strengthened, 

 as is always done with webs, by an extra thickness of leather ; 

 because, when a fracture takes place, it almost always occurs 

 at the hole through which the tongue of the buckle passes. 



The short tongue of the buckle of a stirrup leather and 

 the open space below it (Fig. 141) are relics of former 

 days, when it was the custom to pass the end of the 

 leather (Fig. 142) through that open space (Fig. 143). As 

 this arrangement made an uncomfortable lump under the 

 skirt of the saddle, and as it increased the difficulty of 

 altering the length of the leather, it has now been generally 



Fig. 141 



Fig. 142- 



Fig. 143- 



Fig. 144- 



Stirrup Leather Buckles. 



given up in favour of the plan shown in Fig. 127. Recog- 

 nising the fact that the unnecessary shortness of the tongue 

 of the old-fashioned buckle made its manipulation somewhat 

 awkward, especially when mounted, Mr. Langham-Reed 

 has wisely applied the principle of an ordinary girth-buckle 

 (Fig. 149) to stirrup leathers (Fig. 144). Every horseman 

 should adopt this sound improvement. 



STIRRUP IRONS. 



The fashionable stirrup iron for hunting is the " open- 

 bottom Persian-side iron," to use the trade expression. There 



