54 RIDING. 



Let your horse, if he is anything of a fencer, choose 

 his own way and pace to take his jumps. 



It would be well, for cross-country horsemen more especially, 

 to bear in mind Sir Francis Head's observation, as applied to riders 

 as well as horses, that " the belly lifts the legs," meaning, I take 

 it, that if man or horse is out of tone from derangement of the 

 stomach or general debility, he cannot be up to the mark or fit 

 for any physical exertion. It is well known to steeplechase riders 

 and men who ride straight to hounds, that occasionally, in conse- 

 quence of inertion, indulgence, or dissipation, having deranged the 

 stomach or nervous system, a rider will be done up before his 

 steed, who, oppressed with a comparatively dead weight knocking 

 about on his back, will himself follow suit from want of being held 

 together, and probably come a burster at some jump before the 

 finish. 



To a practical horseman the act of standing in the 

 stirrups will suggest itself as a matter of expediency to 

 ease himself, when the horse is pulling hard at or near 

 his full galloping pace. 



The great advantage of a rider easing his bearer by 

 walking up-hill is treated of under the head of " Work," 

 page 36. 



When a rider finds his horse going tender or lame, 

 he ought immediately to dismount and examine his 

 feet. If a stone has become bedded between the clefts 

 of the frog, or got between shoe and sole, and a picker 

 does not happen to be at hand, a suitable stone should 

 be sought wherewith to dislodge the one in the foot. 

 If no stone in the foot can be discovered as causing 

 the lameness, closer examination must be made in 

 search of a nail, a piece of iron or rough glass, or other 

 damage to the sole. If no apparent means of relief 

 present itself, the sooner the beast is led to the near- 

 est place where a proper examination of the foot can 



