80 HACKS AND HUNTERS 



fly over his head and so get clear of him as he falls. 

 In fact, the pommels often act as a sort of buffer, and, 

 providing the rider is still sitting close in the saddle 

 and is not half in and half out, hit the ground first, 

 thus preventing the horse from crunching the rider's 

 legs with his weight. I have had several falls in which 

 my horse came down on the near side, and, although I 

 remained unhurt, my pommels were badly bent, prov- 

 ing beyond a doubt that, as I was under the horse 

 when he fell, the pommels must have broken the full 

 force of the blow. It is astonishing how many falls — 

 and bad falls too — a woman can have and yet come 

 off unhurt. The explanation of this is, possibly, that 

 a woman's horse, if properly schooled, usually ap- 

 proaches a jump leading on the off fore leg, and there- 

 fore if he hits, he does so with that leg, and conse- 

 quently falls on his right side, in which case, unless he 

 is unfortunate enough to roll over, a woman is no 

 more apt to be hurt than a man under similar cir- 

 cumstances. 



(8) As regards polo, I also agree that, owing to her 

 position in the side-saddle, it is extremely difficult for 

 a woman to play the game well. She can hit the ball 

 on the off side as well as a man, and ride off to even 

 better advantage, but strokes on the near side are 

 extremely difficult. Polo has been played by women 

 in side-saddles in England, and by a few women in 

 this country, but there is no denying that the side- 

 saddle is a handicap which makes it impossible for a 

 woman riding in it to compete against men or women 

 riding astride.* 



* There is, of course, no reason why a woman who rides side-saddle 

 cannot change to the cross-saddle on those occasions when she may 

 wish to play polo. 



