Balance 51 



the horse shown is moving much faster and as the 

 pace must regulate the degree of incHnation, the 

 rider's body is in this case inchned more forward, in 

 order to preserve true balance. 



Plate VII illustrates the evil effect of letting the 

 body get behind the perpendicular at either of these 

 phases of the jump ; the rider depicted in it had, to 

 my certain knowledge, excellent gripping power, but 

 grip alone was not enough on this occasion ; the man 

 had no reins to hold on by, and he therefore fell off 

 backwards. I have witnessed many falls from the 

 same cause, and the skeptic can at once prove the 

 correctness of the statement by dropping his reins 

 at a fence. 



Let us now consider the poise of the body when 

 the horse is in the act of descending. If the reader 

 will stand up on the car of a switch-back in motion 

 he will find that to maintain his equilibrium he will 

 have to lean forward when going downhill, and the 

 difference between this movement and that of land- 

 ing over a fence is that at slow paces the horse gener- 

 ally dwells when he lands, whereas the switchback 

 makes no pause at the bottom of the incline. Care- 

 ful observation extending over a lengthened period, 



