THE LEAP. 253 



apt to sink into it. No risk must be taken in 

 the leap, except in cases of emergency, when, of 

 course, the rider may have neither time nor op- 

 portunity to select her ground, and be obliged 

 to leap her steed over the nearest available 

 point. The author once avoided what might 

 have proved a serious accident to both herself 

 and horse, by promptly leaping him over a 

 hedge of thorn bushes, upon the other side of 

 which was a river : this was done in order to 

 axoid colliding in a narrow road with a fright- 

 ened, runaway team, which was quite beyond 

 the control of its driver. 



The standing leap will prove more difficult 

 to learn than the flying leap, but, nevertheless, 

 it should be the first one practiced, and when 

 once acquired, the other will be mere play. A 

 bar twelve feet long, raised two feet from the 

 ground, will be sufficient for practice in this 

 exercise ; if a lady can manage a leap of this 

 height with expertness and grace, she will be 

 fully able to bound over a still higher obstacle, 

 should she desire to do so, and her horse be 

 equal to the occasion. Before attempting the 

 leap, she must be sure that she is perfectly se- 

 cure upon the saddle, with her left knee directly 

 under the third pommel so as to press it firmly 

 against the latter as the horse rises to the leap ; 



