THE SADDLE ROOM 175 



Mr. Thomas Parrington asked me one day when 

 he saw a new and very ingenious saddle bar in 

 my saddle room. I spoke in favour of the con- 

 trivance, but the very next time I rode v/ith it 

 I had to put my foot out of the stirrup to avoid 

 a stump in the fence. As I galloped on I could 

 not regain my stirrup, so I looked for it and saw 

 it was not there. Unknown to me it had been 

 pulled off as I jumped the last fence, and I had 

 to ride back for it. I missed the run and threw 

 away the patent bars at the very first opportunity. 

 The fact is that if a man rides with the springs of 

 his ordinary spring bars back and with a properly 

 shaped stirrup he does not run much risk of being 

 hung up. 



Stirrups are either * round legged,' as they are 

 termed, or they have flat sides running about a 

 third of the distance from the sole to the top of 

 the stirrup. Sometimes these are very wide. 

 They are smart and are very comfortable to the 

 horseman, but they are by no means safe ; for 

 if a horse falls there is the possibility of the side 

 of the spur forming an angle with the side of the 

 stirrup, in which case the rider is as fast as if he 

 was padlocked to the stirrup until the angle is 

 quite changed. It is a very difficult thing to 

 describe the exact action which takes place with 

 the contact of the tw^o metals ; but I can assure 

 the reader it is an extremely unpleasant pre- 

 dicament to be placed in and that one's thoughts 

 are more occupied with trying to get out of it 

 than with seeking a scientific explanation of a 



