LEAPING.] 



THE HOESE, AND 



[leaping. 



but whence the fulcrum ia derived, it would be 

 difficult to determine." 



In reference to this power in the horse, Mr. 

 Blaine is of the same opinion, and, indeed, cites 

 Mr. Apperley in support of it. The buck-leap 

 is not made when the horse is at the top of 

 his speed, but when at a trot, canter, or short 

 hand-gallop. Buck-leapers, however, are not 

 considered very safe, especially if there is 

 fatigue in the cases of the animals making 

 them. "The horse, in such a case," says Mr. 

 Blaine, "not being able to bear the jar of a 

 secondary effort of the joints to relieve him- 

 self, the attempt often brings him down, and 

 thus it is that buck-leapers are seldom safe 

 ones. We would caution the nervous rider 

 aeainst the dangerous custom which some have, 

 at every downward leap, of grasping the cantle 

 of the saddle with the whip-hand, for it not 

 only displaces the body, and, consequently, un- 

 steadies the seat, but it has likewise dislocated 

 the shoulder. We have seen others elevate 

 the whip-hand at every flying leap ; and the 

 action appears to have become so natural to 

 them as not at all to discompose their seat. 

 In Ireland this is very common ; and among 

 the regular 'Pats,' it is accompanied with a 

 vociferous 'hough,' the rise of the hand and 

 voice being synchronous ; neither is it impro- 

 bable that, from custom, both the action and 

 sound are inspiriting to the rider — perhaps to 

 the horse also." 



What are called the trial-leaps of the Irish 

 horses are, perhaps, the most extraordinary 

 instances of springing power that are to be 

 found in any country in the world. They are 

 taken over stone walls of six feet high, built 

 firm throughout by coping and dashing. When 

 Mr. Blaine was with his regiment in Ireland, 

 he had opportunities of witnessing some of 

 these daring feats. " Over these walls it was 

 a very common occurrence for their crack 

 fieldsmen to ride, but it was owned that some 

 of the stones were usually displaced in the 

 leap. Indeed, it was this very circumstance 

 that deprived the enterprise of half its danger. 

 A good horse there, when hunting, seldom 

 baulked such a leap ; for he is aware that 



either his knees or his breast will displace the 

 first tier of loose stone ; the next rider who 

 follows does the same ; and each one who 

 succeeds, is in more and more peril from the 

 loose stones, which very frequently give horse 

 and rider an awful somersault. That high 

 fencing-horses are almost, as it were, indigenous 

 to Ireland, we might conclude from the cir- 

 cumstance that, at one of the great horse fairs 

 held at Ballinasloe, the parish pound, which is 

 six feet in height, forms the trial-leap of the 

 high-priced horses bought there, each of which, 

 we are told, is expected to leap it ere the bar- 

 gain is concluded. It is also recorded of a 

 descendant of old Pot-8-os, from an Irish half- 

 bred mare, that she leaped a wall of seven feet 

 high, built for the purpose, in Phoenix Park, 

 Dublin.' = 



On the 24th of February, 1792, an Irish 

 bay horse, for the honour of Ireland, leapt 

 standing, the wall of Hyde Park, which was 

 six feet and a-half high on the inside, and 

 eight on the outside, where a long bed of 

 dung was laid to receive him on his descent. 

 This horse was the property of Mr. Bingham. 

 It was twice done by the same animal, which, 

 on the second leap, merely displaced a few 

 bricks. Steeple-chasers, of later years, are also 

 said to have achieved some extraordinary leaps. 

 Charity, winner of the Newport Pagnel Steeple- 

 Chase in 1841, cleared twenty-eight feet and 

 a bank; and Peter Simple, at the Liverpool 

 Steeple-Chase, cleared the artificial water-cut, 

 opposite the Grand Stand, leaving his mea- 

 sured foot-prints thirty-two feet from bank to 

 bank. 



We will conclude these feats of leaping by 

 giving a sustained instance of this power in the 

 horse ; and which shows the wonderful stamina 

 possessed by some of the species. A match 

 was made between Sir Charles Turner and the 

 Earl of March, upon these conditions, that the 

 former should " ride ten miles within the hour, 

 in which he was to take forty leaps, each leap 

 to be one yard, one quarter, and seven inches 

 high." The stake was 1,000 guineas, which 

 Sir Charles, with great ease, won upon a Gal- 

 loway, in thirty-six minutes. 



154 



