The Hurdles. 15 



is a pretty sound test of a willing jumper, if not 

 a crack one. Moreover, the author has been ac- 

 quainted with too many masters of equitation, at 

 home as well as abroad, to harbor any but a very 

 modest opinion of his own equestrian ability. He 

 would be much more sensitive to criticism of 

 Patroclus than of himself, for he knows the horse 

 to be an exceptionally good one within his limita- 

 tions, while always conscious that his own seat 

 lacks the firmness of ante-bellum days. It used 

 to be said in the Old Country that an English- 

 man keeps his seat to manage his horse, and that 

 a Frenchman manages his horse to keep his seat. 

 The author is obliged to confess that to-day he is 

 often reduced to the latter practice. 



The hurdles were somewhat over four feet 

 high ; behind each was a bar just four feet from 

 the ground. The water-jumps were from fifteen 

 to eighteen feet from taking-off to landing. On 

 a number of occasions (as in Plate XII.) Patro- 

 clus covered over twenty measured feet in this 

 jump. 



As is manifest from a few of the plates, it was 

 the action of the horse, and not the " form " of 

 the rider, which it was aimed to secure. It is easy 

 to make engravings in which the seat of the rider 

 shall be perfect ; but in all the wood-cut illustra- 

 tions of books on equitation the horse is usually 

 anatomically incorrect, however artistically sug- 



