SUMMERING & CONDITIONING OF HUNTERS 83 



dragged after a fall. You will probably never 

 realise the full necessity of this until you have 

 stirrup found yourself tied by your stirrup leather 

 leathers ^^ ^ frightened horse, who is kicking at 

 your head in his struggles to dissolve the un- 

 welcome partnership. There are many safety bars, 

 and, as far as my experience goes, they all suffer 

 from the defect of occasionally flying off before 

 there is any necessity for their doing so. Champion 

 and Tritton's patent hooks are free from this 

 defect, and I have never found them fail me in 

 time of need. They are very simple and inexpen- 

 sive, hooking on to the ordinary saddle bar. When 

 using them the stirrup leather must be put on 

 with the tongue of the buckle inwards, towards 

 the saddle. This means taking the whole strap 

 off to shorten your stirrup when mounted, a 

 quite simple operation. The ' crab ' of these hooks 

 is that they cause great strain on the stirrup 

 leather at the tongue, making it wear out somewhat 

 quickly, and they are also rather apt to wrench the 

 saddle bar outwards, if the rider turns suddenly in 

 the saddle. 



Impress on your groom to be most particular 

 about your leathers, and never send you out with a 

 doubtful one. A broken leather may lose you the 

 run of the season, even if it does not mean a fall. 

 Leathers which are at all worn had better be kept 



