RIDING ON EXMOOR. 357 



herbage which grows on it, generally long sedgy 

 grass, so that when a horse puts his foot on a place 

 where the surface is weak the foot may sink in. If 

 going at a moderate pace, and well in hand he 

 probably gets off with a scramble ; if going fast he 

 comes down. It is when a horse flounders into a 

 fair-sized soft place, and gets his hindquarters in, 

 that he may be said to be bogged. He then 

 instinctively, after a struggle or two, sits down, so that 

 the weight of his body is upheld, or partly so, by the 

 surface. In this position he may appear to have sunk 

 to a great depth, but if he is allowed a moment to 

 catch his wind and recover his nerve, and is then 

 gently stimulated to farther exertion, he will generally 

 struggle out with surprising ease. 



Most of the ground is liberally Intersected with 

 drainage ditches which have been cut right through 

 to the rock ; these show the thickness of the peaty 

 deposit ; there are but few of them that cannot be 

 measured with an ordinary hunting crop. The places 

 which are most to be avoided are close beside some 

 of the small streams where the action of water has 

 made deep holes, and out of some of these a horse 

 might have difficulty in getting without assistance ; 

 but all these places are pretty obvious and there is 

 no need to get into them. 



The Chains is a much-dreaded tract of wet ground 

 from which drain out the rivers Exe, Barle, Bray, and 

 Lynn, besides many smaller waters. It is the highest 

 ground on Exrnoor, and the wettest and foggiest. 



