38 RIDING. DRIVING AND KINDRED SPORTS 



nature of their seat to give their horses, gives 

 them an advantage over us. It must be con- 

 fessed, however, that when things go wrong 

 the odds are terribly against them. Therefore 

 no horse can be too oood for a woman to ride 

 in the hunting field. Every man who has had 

 to ride indifferent horses over a stiff country 

 knows that the inevitable cropper is bound to 

 come sooner or later, probably sooner. But 

 then a cropper is not a matter of much con- 

 sequence to a man, however little he may like 

 it, while a fall for a woman is a dangerous 

 affair. Safety skirts, safety bars, and straight- 

 seated saddles have done much to render the 

 danoer less than it used to be, but still the one- 

 sided seat and the pommels always remain. A 

 man therefore may, if necessity so compel him, 

 ride horses the shape and temper of which is 

 not all that could be wished ; but a woman's 

 horse must have good shoulders and a fairly 

 well set on neck, or- the rider will be in per- 

 petual and very real danger. More than that, 

 those who are responsible for women's hunters 

 ought to be particularly careful to keep a watch 

 on the state of the horse's feet. This is a 

 point on which many otherwise excellent and 

 trustworthy grooms and stablemen are apt to 

 be deficient in care. Yet a twisted shoe, a 

 bruised frog, or an unperceived thrush will 



