USE OF TOO SHORT STIRRUP-LEATHERS 



sees the slack spun out, brings the horse to a complete 

 somersault by a powerful jerk, the rider being spun off 

 on to his feet, if he is efficient in the art of falling ; if 

 not, he comes sometimes on his head, but generally 

 manages to run off his horse, as it were, and gets some 

 distance before he can stop, being in most cases quite 

 free of the horse's fall.' 



Some Englishmen of my acquaintance have learned 

 the art in South America, but have not found it of 

 much benefit when hunting in the shorter leathers used 

 here on the English saddles. The greater perfection 

 in the art is only learned by the system which I have 

 described above, of riding over hurdles without stirrups, 

 and either with or without saddles, which latter must 

 very much depend upon the shape of the horse's 

 shoulders. 



The rider who uses leathers which are too short can 

 never reckon on getting well out of a fall. I would have 

 the reader remember that there is a great difference 

 between the terms 'short' and ' shorter,' but in riding 

 horses with bad (loaded) shoulders, the stirrups should 

 be shorter than when ridino- a horse with a ' fine ' 

 shoulder. In the former case the weight of the rider 

 is too far forward, and in the latter, if the weight is not 

 placed in the right spot, it is too far back, and this 

 undue distribution must very soon exhaust the jumping 

 powers of a horse. Nor can anything be more liable 

 to cause disaster than for the weight of the rider to be 

 placed in the wrong position. 



I have noticed that in the shires many men ride 

 too short, from the mistaken idea that thev can the 

 more easily get out of a fall ; but the suddenness of the 

 jerk in a fall is so great with short leathers, that a rider 



