212 THE COMPLETE HORSEMAN 



especially should the rider take care not to hit his 

 horse with the spurs just as he is taking off. It 

 knocks him out of his stride and frequently 

 brings about disaster. The following anecdote 

 is apposite. I asked a friend who had given me a 

 graphic account of a brilliant run, how his horse had 

 carried him — the said horse being a young one, 

 and a new purchase. He was full of enthusiasm 

 and finished a glowing account of his horse by 



saying he had put him down at the brook. 



This was a very formidable obstacle and I 

 remarked that my friend was trying a young one 

 rather high to put him at such a place at the 

 end of forty minutes. '' He would have done 

 right enough," was the reply, '' if I had not been 

 such a fool as to hit him with the spurs as he 

 was taking off, and so knock him out of his 

 stride. I wonder if my nerve is going. " 



Readers of Whyte-Melville will remember that 

 when the funeral sermon was preached over 

 James Paravant who had been killed in a steeple- 

 chase, an old retainer, commenting on the parson's 

 remark that the last of his race, like so many of 

 his illustrious ancestors, had died in his spurs, 

 said '' Parson were quite right, it were them 



d spurs that did it." What a world of 



truth there is in the brief comment ! Spurs have 

 helped a good horseman out of a difficulty many 

 a time ; on far more occasions have they helped 

 a bad horseman into one. 



Spurs indeed occupy a very curious position 

 in riding economy. It was once said that only 



