BOOTS. 367 



Hunting top boots should have long, low heels, so as 

 to prevent the stirrup irons pressing and catching on the 

 insteps, and should be easy to the feet. Tight boots being 

 cold boots, are very uncomfortable during a long ride on 

 a winter's day, and besides, they are not agreeable things 

 to walk in, in the event of the rider parting company with 

 his animal, or having to lead it home, in case of an accident. 

 In view of such eventualities, the thin soles which are used 

 with flat race and steeplechase boots, and which give a 

 pleasant feeling of the stirrup irons, are not suitable for 

 hunting boots, which have to be made somewhat stouter. 

 Fashion varies from time to time, respecting the depth and 

 colour of tops, which are now about 4^ inches deep. 

 Formerly, they were much deeper. 



Spurs of the hunting pattern are always worn with top boots 

 although many good horses go better without them and 

 should be buckled, in a manner which will bring the neck 

 of the spur at right angles to the leg of the boot The 

 buckle should of course be on the outside of the boot. If 

 a rider wishes to avoid pricking his horse with his spurs, 

 which he may often do involuntarily when landing over a 

 fence, and especially if he gets shifted in his seat, he may 

 have the rowels removed, or use spurs with the ends 

 smooth and rounded. It is a bad plan to use blank rowels 

 in the form of a shilling for instance ; for they are apt to 

 cut a horse's sides more severely than pointed ones. Spurs 

 with short necks, which are less liable to touch a horse 

 than those with ordinary long ones, are not fashionable ; 

 although they are certainly more workmanlike, unless the 

 rider has extremely long legs in comparison to the depth 

 of the horse at the girths. 



With regard to gloves, the choice lies between brown 

 leather and white woollen ones. In either case, they should 

 be sufficiently large to give perfect freedom to the hands 



