134 RIDING RECOLLECTIONS. 



practised, is not without its advantages at less danger- 

 ous fences than the uncompromising bit of timber that 

 turns us over. It necessarily increases the width of a 

 bank, affording the horse more room for foothold, as it 

 decreases the height and strength of the growers, by 

 taking them the way they lie, and may, on occasion, 

 save a good hunter from a broken back, the penalty for 

 dropping both hind legs simultaneously and perpendicu- 

 larly into some steep cut ditch he has failed to cover in 

 his stride. 



Discretion, you observe, should accompany the hardest 

 riders, and is not to be laid aside even in the confusion 

 and excitement of a fall. 



This must prove a frequent casualty with every man, 

 however well-mounted, if the hounds show sport and 

 he means to be with them while they run. It seems a 

 paradox, but the oftener you are down, the less likely 

 you are to be hurt. Practice soon teaches you to pre- 

 serve presence of mind, or, as I may be allowed to call 

 it, discretion, and when you know exactly where your 

 horse is, you can get away from him before he crushes 

 you with the weight of his body. A foot or a hand 

 thrust out at the happy moment, is enough to " fend you 

 off," and your own person seldom comes to the ground 

 with such force as to do you any harm, if there is 



