RIDING TO HOUNDS 241 



one which was taught in my childhood, when 

 beginning to hunt, nearly half a century ago. 

 The reins should be pulled over the horse's head, 

 passed through the throat-lash (which prevents 

 the animal from treading on them while grazing), 

 and then, after passing them under the fore-leg, 

 tied to the stirrup sufficiently tightly to bend the 

 animal's neck slightly down. The effect of this 

 is that though the horse can move about, and also 

 graze, he cannot raise his head to trot, without 

 catching himself under the elbow, and therefore 

 seldom gets far away, and is easily caught. If, 

 however, it is done carelessly, so that the horse 

 can straighten his neck, he can gallop off if he 

 chooses, as if quite free. The success of the 

 method depends upon the amount of bend given 

 to the neck. The writer has many a time in wild 

 countries tied up his horse in this manner in the 

 middle of enormous flat plains, and then gone 

 away for hours to shoot, and on his return found 

 the animal close to where he was left. There is a 

 knot, however, that it is necessary to learn, or the 

 reins will come untied, for stiff leather is an 

 uncanny thing to tie knots in. Fortunately it is 

 a simple knot, and easily remembered. After 

 passing the end of the reins through the stirrup, 

 and adjusting them to the right length, shorten 

 them by about another inch (as a little of the 

 length is always lost in making the knot), and 

 then taking two turns round the first two 

 fingers of the left hand, pass the end of the reins 

 through the loops thus formed, and draw all as 

 tight as possible. If properly made, this knot 

 never works loose. 



When jumping hedges and ditches, there is 

 less likelihood of a fall, when your horse is getting 

 17 



