THE USE OF THE BRIDLE. 49 



a horse up, while landing, I believe to be a fallacy, that 

 he gives him every chance in a difficulty by sitting well 

 back and not interfering with his efforts to recover him 

 self, I know to be a fact. The rider cannot keep too 

 quiet till the last moment, when his own knee touches 

 the ground, then, the sooner he parts company the better, 

 turning his face towards his horse if possible, so as not 

 to lose sight of the falling mass, and, above all, holding 

 the bridle in his hand. 



The last precaution cannot be insisted on too strongly. 

 Not to mention the solecism of being afoot in boots 

 and breeches during a run, and the cruel tax we inflict 

 on some brother sportsman, who, being too good a 

 fellow to leave us in the lurch, rides his own horse 

 furlongs out of his line to go and catch ours, there is 

 the further consideration of personal safety to life and 

 limb. That is a very false position in which a man 

 finds himself, when the animal is on its legs again, who 

 cannot clear his foot from the stirrup, and has let his 

 horse's head go ! 



I believe too that a tenacious grasp on the reins 

 saves many a broken collar-bone, as it cants the rider's 

 body round in the act of falling, so that the cushion of 

 muscle behind it, rather than the point of his shoulder, 

 is the first place to touch the ground ; and no one who 



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