Introduction 



A bridle I was always very fond of was two snafifles, and if 

 on an extra hard puller, such as Reugny, whom I rode in one 

 of that description — a chain snaffle and a gag. 



How often one hears of a stirrup-leather breaking — as 

 likely as not at the initiative fence ! No one who has not 

 gone through this experience has any idea how tiring it is to 

 the thigh having to ride through a race with only one stirrup. 

 I have a very vivid remembrance of a ride I once had in the 

 Open Handicap, at Hexham, on a mare called Lady Day, when 

 my stirrup-leather broke at the very first fence. To make it 

 worse, most of the jumps had biggish drops attached to them. 

 But ** All's well that ends well," and I won by a neck in the 

 end. You cannot be too particular in carefully examining your 

 stirrup-leathers before getting into the saddle. I say " leathers " 

 advisedly, as being far better than webbings for steeplechases, 

 for this reason — that should your foot slip out of the iron, you 

 can more easily recover it than the other, which twists and 

 turns about so as to make it very difficult to get your foot back 

 into the iron. 



I would, also, never advise any one to ride on a smaller saddle 

 than one of 6 lbs. or 7 lbs., as the tree of a very light saddle is 

 always liable to break, and really 3 lbs. or 4 lbs. does not make 

 the same amount of difference in a steeplechase that it would 

 on the flat. 



As to falls, I have been so exceptionally lucky that there is 

 really very little to say on the subject, so far as concerns 

 myself, except to remark that the majority of them, in my 

 humble opinion, are caused by riding too close in the tracks 

 of the horse in front of you, the natural consequence being 

 that your mount has no time to see the obstacle before him 

 until he is right on to it. 



As a matter of fact, I hardly ever got a fall when riding the 



XX 



