LEAPING. 125 



the ground is soft, there is a danger of his not 

 getting his fore feet out of the road of his hind ones, 

 and thus getting a fall. Again, if a horse makes a 

 great spring, or is going fast, there is a possibility of 

 his over-balancing himself. A horse which has his 

 head held when he jumps, is more likely to fall from 

 either of these two causes than when he goes with 

 it loose. 



One of the most likely fences to give a horse a 

 fall is an ordinary hedge with a ditch on the other 

 side some little distance from the hedge, that is, 

 with a piece of bank between. The height of the 

 hedge prevents the horse from seeing the ditch, and 

 the ditch is just where he would naturally put his 

 fore feet. 



ISTow in this case, if a horse is ridden fast, and has 

 his head held and comes down on his fore feet first, 

 unless he happens to take such a spring as will clear 

 the whole, he is almost certain to get a fall. But if 

 the horse goes slowly with his head loose he will 

 drop on all fours, and can much more easily put 

 either his fore or hind feet on the bank, and if he 

 should happen to come with his fore feet in the ditch 

 he will only come on his stomach, and need not 

 necessarily give his rider a fall even then. 



A fence of this sort, with the ditch first, is very 

 much easier to jump, but in this case also, a horse 

 has a better chance of getting over it when going 

 slow with his head loose. 



