A SHORT STRIDE A STROKE OF POLICY. 77 



them go within themselves. This, with a heavy 

 weight on them, should be particularly attended to, 

 and, more than all, in putting a horse at a fence. We 

 may spin him to it as free and as fast as we like, if 

 ice do not want him to jump high ; but care should be 

 taken to make him go at it with a shortened stride ; 

 for a horse going up to a fence, taking perhaps sixteen 

 or seventeen feet each stroke, can scarcely collect 

 himself so as to take off to a certainty at the precisely 

 proper place. We will suppose a lengthy horse going 

 thus striding along up to a brook, say of fourteen or 

 fifteen feet, and supposing his last stride brought his 

 fore feet within ten feet of the bank, he could hardly 

 be able to collect himself so as to take another short 

 stride before taking off; consequently he would, to 

 clear the leap, have twenty-seven feet to jump, when 

 seventeen would do if he took off as close as he might 

 do ; and probably it may require as much exertion to 

 take twenty-seven feet with 12st , as it would to take 

 seventeen with 16st. on him. This we perhaps can- 

 not prove to be or not to be the fact : but we can 

 very easily judge, that if heavy weights did let their 

 horses make these uncalled-for exertions, they could 

 not be carried as they are. It is bad enough when 

 they are occasionally obliged to call upon their 

 horses for such unnatural exertions ; but they must 

 be, and are (such as ride well) very careful not to call 

 ofterier than they can help, or they would soon find 

 their nag "not at home." 



There is an experiment relative to weight that I 

 never saw tried, nor have I heard of its ever having 

 been tried, but I certainly will make it, which is 

 this. I will put a 16st. man on a horse equal to his 

 weight, and a high wide jumper ; then make up a 



