-50- 



not quite realising the position, said to me: "That 

 man is knocked silly"; while on the other side came 

 the soft Irish drawl of a complete stranger: "I think 

 he's knocked damn wise." It seemed incredible that 

 in such a "field," so bunched together, not a horse 

 should have touched him; and if he had not tucked him- 

 self up into the smallest possible space, it would have 

 been impossible. As the lad walked up the course un- 

 hurt I felt that the Irish stranger's reflection on the 

 incident was fairly correct. 



Falls of all sorts will have much less effect on 

 the man who keeps himself fit and hard. Swedish exer- 

 cises done every morning keep the muscles limber and 

 greatly lessen their effect. Of course, falls ought to 

 be avoided, but I have known men who took pride in having 

 a great number; these, however, were never good men to 

 hounds. I remember one keen young soldier who felt he 

 had not really done his best unless he had taken about 

 forty falls by Christmas. Needless to say, in spite of 

 his bravery, he seldom or never saw a hunt, and his over- 

 faced horses constantly refused with him. But he must 

 have mastered the art of falling, for I don't recollect 

 that he was ever hurt. However, that is not the way to 

 ride to hounds. If you fall often, it is well to begin 

 to question what is wrong with your method of riding at 

 fences. 



Good hands and horsemanship on the rider's part, 

 good shoulders on the horse's, are the best insurance 

 against falls; and, after all, they waste time when 

 hounds are running and, save in exceptional circumstances, 

 do your horse no good. 



As I said before, far the worst falls are those we 

 get over wire. No shoulders can save you then, and the 

 best and bravest go down in a nasty-looking heap through 

 no fault of their own. Wire that pulls out when you 

 get into it is the worst of all, and many a horse gets 

 so cut up by it that he has to be killed. Wire, when 

 it is marked or can be seen, is nearly always best 

 avoided, but if it is nailed along the top of timber, 

 you are pretty sure to get over it if you ride at the 

 post; in such a case, too, the horse most likely sees 

 it. Again, if it runs along a hedge, not too near the 



