RIDING RECOLLECTIONS 



tion, much depends on an insight into his character, 

 whom an enthusiastic friend of mine designates 

 "the bolder and wiser animal of the two." 



Few men go out hunting with the expectation 

 of encountering more than one or two falls in 

 the best of runs, although the score sometimes 

 increases very rapidly, when a good and gallant 

 horse is getting tired towards the finish. Twenty 

 croppers in a season, if he is well mounted, seems 

 a high average for the most determined of 

 bruisers ; but a man, whom circumstances impel 

 to ride whatever he can lay hands on, must take 

 into consideration how he can best rise from the 

 ground unhurt with no less forethought than he 

 asks his way to the meet or inquires into the 

 condition of his mount. To such a bold rider the 

 spur may seem an indispensable article, but he 

 must remember that even if its application should 

 save him on occasion, which I am not altogether 

 prepared to admit, the appendage itself is most 

 inconvenient when down. I cannot remember a 

 sinorle instance of a man's foot remaininof fixed in 

 the stirrup who was riding without spurs. I do 

 not mean to say such a catastrophe is impossible, 

 but I have good reason to know that the buckle 

 on the instep, which when brightly polished 

 imparts such a finish to the lustrous wrinkles of a 

 well-made boot, is extremely apt to catch in the 

 angle of the stirrup iron, and hold us fast at the 



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