114 THE COMPLETE SPORTSMAN 



— until, indeed, he had ordered two new ones — 

 Sir Isaac had no grooms to run to the heads 

 of the horses, and the inconvenience result- 

 ing from such a state of things may well be 

 imagined. 



If it is no easy matter to become a first- 

 class whip, success in the saddle is even more 

 difficult of attainment. From the very outset 

 riding presents obstacles which it requires all 

 a man's courage and patience to surmount. 

 Few sportsmen have not experienced that 

 strong disinclination to horse exercise which 

 fills the human breast with a sense of fore- 

 boding on a fresh mnter's morning, when a 

 frisky steed is brought round to the front-door 

 before breakfast, and one is expected to leap 

 light-heartedly into a cold and slippery saddle. 



The very act of mounting is often fraught 

 with danger to the beginner, and before at- 

 tempting to do so he should make quite sure 

 that his stirrup leathers are of suitable and 

 equal length. No task is more difficult than 

 that of altering the length of a stirrup-leather 

 while seated on the back of a restive horse, 

 with only one hand free to manipulate the 

 stiff buclde; and few things are more prejudicial 

 to grace or comfort than riding with one stirrup 



