1 2 STRAINED GROIN AND ITS A VOIDANCE 



fallen ; and when he had satisfied himself that his 

 horse was unhurt, after it had risen, he would vault on 

 its back and gallop off. 



I have constantly seen him vault on his horse's 

 back as the latter was galloping off, and take the next 

 fence before he had time to put his feet into the stirrup- 

 irons. Sometimes, when he had lost a stirrup, I have 

 seen him going away in front just as if nothing had 

 happened. Those who are accustomed to the support 

 of a stirrup will know what it feels like to have to ride 

 over fences without one, and I have known cases 

 in which, after such a mishap, men have been stiff and 

 strained in the groin for a week, by reason of the 

 unequal strain given to the groin on that side. I 

 have often lost a stirrup out hunting, and on one 

 occasion did so during a very long run with stag- 

 hounds, of some thirty miles over a heavy, stiff 

 country, and I most certainly should have felt the 

 effects of it had I not several times dropped my 

 other foot out of the stirrup and ridden without any 

 stirrups at all, and by so doing I avoided the extra 

 strain on the one groin. However, nothing ever 

 seemed to affect Caffrey, he was always in such 

 splendid condition ; and the constant practice he had 

 in falling, and jumping on and off his horses when 

 training them, tended to make him one of the most 

 active men over a country I have ever known. I 

 have known him ride horses, the most inveterate 

 devils, without a saddle, which no one else could ride 

 with one, and he stuck to theni until he conquered 

 them. If a horse reared with him, he would slip 

 off like lightning, and with his left hand pull the 

 horse over on to his back with a jerk of the bridle. 



