SWIMMING A HORSE. 371 



striking the ground, luckily of gravel, with but a touch, 

 as it were, of his hinder legs, sending the water flying, 

 but landino- without a fall. To sit on a horse, and feel 

 all this flying power and activity beneatli you, is, I 

 maintain, the most delightful sensation experienced in 

 the noble science of horsemanship. To sit on a horse 

 who is a good swimmer, — their method of swimming 

 is widely different ; I had a little liorse, called "Game 

 Cock," who swam just as smoothly as a Newfound- 

 land dog, — is also a graceful thing ; but if the rider 

 has long legs, let him cross his stirrups over the pom- 

 mel of the saddle, and while taking very good care to 

 keep a firm and steadily balanced seat, let him keep 

 his feet forward. A man who is not so long in the 

 leg, and who has, consequently, a shorter seat, need 

 not take his feet out of the stirrups at all, hut let him 

 he sure to keep them in. If the horse is in a double 

 rein, gather up the curb short enough to keep it from 

 the forelegs or much sway in the water, but not so 

 much so as to let it he felt in the faintest degree; and in 

 guiding him, let it all be done by a slight touch on 

 either side the snaffle. If a horse is reined in in the 

 water, he can't swim, and most likely, by dropping 

 his loins, will go backwards. I remember two ladies 

 from Bletsoe calling on Mrs. Berkeley at Harrold 

 Hall, just as I had come home from hunting, and 

 was in my dressing room, pulling off my boots. The 

 earlier part of the morning had been very wet, but at 

 mid-day it was fine. They were driving themselves 

 in a one-horse phaeton. I was partly dressed, — 

 dressed all but my coat, neckcloth, and waistcoat, — 

 Avhen, to my utter astonishment, I heard a horse at a 

 gallop, and wheels race along the gravel walk beneath 

 my window, where there was only a foot-way ; this 



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