^f 



LUSTING HORSES AT FENCES. 73 



will do SO, because he gets a fulcrum from the ground ; 

 but this fulcrum he has not on his horse. True, his 

 feet are in the stirrups; that is a fulcrum to a 

 certain degree, and gives power to his arms and loins : 

 but let us remember the fulcrum is still on the 

 horse's back ; so at last it only gives power to pull, 

 not lift. This pull can lift the head, but can no 

 more lift the body, without the exertion of the horse 

 to do so, than it can lift the four-legged stool. Now 

 let us affix a yielding board, a gig-spring, or a green 

 ash stake to the end of the stool, and fix the reins to 

 the end of that ; the strength of the muscles and 

 sinews of the rider can raise the end of this : so he 

 can the horse's head and neck, and for the same 

 reason ; he is not sitting on the yielding board or 

 spring, or on the horse's neck. Let one man sit on 

 the back of another, and put his hands under the 

 other's chin ; he may pull his head back certainly if 

 he is strong enough ; but though he may produce all 

 the effect that Mr. Calcraft could do, he would not in 

 any way lift the man he was sitting on, nor if they 

 were placed in a weighing machine could he cause 

 the man beneath him to make the slightest difference 

 to the machine. Now if he could in the smallest 

 degree lift the other, of course the weight would be 

 lighter on the machine ; but it will be found all his 

 lifting does not lift the man one ounce, though he 

 might choke him in trying to do it. 



I have seen many huge fellows hauling and maul- 

 ing at an unfortunate horse's mouth, and because by 

 this they forced liim to make great efforts at fences, 

 really imagined they, as they termed it, lifted him 

 over : this they perhaps also termed assisting him. 

 Whether they do so or not, it is a somewhat rude 



