272 MODERN PIG-STICKING 



be worth their cost. The great advantage of giving 

 your horses the ordinary grain of the country is 

 that it is obtainable everywhere. If you feed on 

 oats and they run short, you have to alter your 

 horses' diet at a trying time. 



Clothing. Personal clothing is of course a matter 

 of one's own convenience. Being a heavy weight 

 I reduce my clothing to a minimum. I started a 

 kit some years ago which is now worn by a certain 

 number of people ; it consists of a green or khaki 

 shirt, sleeves cut off above the elbow, khaki breeches 

 and field-boots. It is cool and neat. I can never 

 understand why some of my friends disfigure a nice 

 horse by appearing in rags that would disgrace a 

 beggar. The horse gear should be beyond reproach, 

 and the clothes should be workmanlike and neat, 

 though as patched as you like. 



You must protect your spine from the sun, for I 

 believe most sunstrokes occur in the back. I never 

 wear a back-pad, as I find it too hot, but I have 

 instead a strip of coloured cloth sewn on inside my 

 shirt down my spine ; any non-actinic colour will 

 do ; red or yellow is the best. I have found this 

 enough in the hottest weather. 



A really good sound hat may save your life. 

 Take spare ones on a trip. The chin-strap must 

 be solid and should pass through the brim and go 

 over the top of the topi. You must wear the chin- 

 strap so tight under your chin that the topi cannot 

 possibly jerk off. I know of two cases where men 

 died from fractured skulls, and each time their pith 

 hats were picked up without a mark on them. They 

 had come off in the fall. One chin-strap was broken, 

 the other was intact. Webbing inside the hat takes 

 up some of the shock, and I always have a little 



