34 THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER. 



pocket, which, without being ejected from the saddle, 

 goes ticking, ticking, ticking on, just as merrily as if 

 nothing had happened. If he only trips, a rider poised 

 justly in his saddle can easily recover him. 



A horse will not only refrain from treading upon any 

 creature lying on the ground, but in hunting he will make 

 the utmost possible effort to avoid putting a foot upon his 

 master whenever 



" On the bare earth exposed he lies." 



If, however, his owner, from a bad seat or from false 

 precaution, has suddenly thrown himself from his back, 

 it is often impossible for the animal, while struggling to 

 recover from a desperate trip, to avoid either trampling 

 upon or violently striking him. 



For this reason a rider should never abandon his saddle 

 so long as his horse beneath it has a leg, or an infini- 

 tesimal part of one, to stand on. But so soon as his 

 downfall is announced by that heavy, thundering concus- 

 sion against the ground, the meaning of which it is impos- 

 sible to mistake, the partnership should instantaneously 

 be dissolved by the horseman rolling, if possible, out of 

 harm's way. 



But it occasionally happens not only that the horse 

 rolls too, but that the larger roller overtakes the smaller 

 one, the two lying prostrate, with the legs in boots under 

 the body whose limbs wear only shoes. 



