172 RIDING FOR LADIES. 



wards as far as the hem, and been there arrested, owing to 

 the resistance offered by the strength of the doubled cloth. 

 Where the hem is done away with, this danger ceases to 

 exist, and the skirt looks if anything better than those that 

 are finished in the ordinary way, I strongly recommend 

 the innovation. 



The most dangerous fall that a lady can get is one into 

 a deep ditch, or drain, with her horse on top of her ; the 

 least dangerous is when he comes down with her on the 

 flat, and gives her a chance to roll clear of him. The 

 best course to pursue in the first instance is to remain 

 perfectly quiet, provided the horse does so also, until 

 rescued. If your head happens to get under water, or that 

 you are in any physical suffering entailed by the position 

 in which you are placed, it will of course be incumbent 

 upon you to endeavour to extricate yourself from it, but 

 even in so awful a moment you should strive to remember 

 that a prostrate horse will be far less likely to injure you 

 than a struggling one, and that if you begin to move, 

 or to pull his head about (as I have seen some frightened 

 ladies do), he will probably make violent efforts to get 

 upon his feet, and may hurt you very severely before help 

 arrives. 



If the place is very deep, and narrow at the bottom, and 

 that you are partially under the horse, strive for your life 

 to keep his head down, in order that he may not attempt 

 to rise, and so trample you in his endeavours. He cannot 

 get up so long as you can prevent his lifting his head ; 

 therefore, if you can contrive to throw a leg across it, or an 



