RIDING RECOLLECTIONS 



tampering with, which the bar will not, therefore 

 if yowx own courage and your horse's skill tempt 

 you to negotiate rails, stiles, or even a gate — and 

 this last is very good form — sound discretion 

 warns you to select the first ten or fifteen minutes 

 of a run for such exhibitions, but to avoid them 

 religiously when the deep ground and the pace 

 have begun to tell. 



Assheton Smith himself, though he scouted the 

 idea of ever turning from anything, had in so far 

 the instinct of self-preservation, that when he 

 thought his horse likely to fall over such an 

 obstacle, he put him at it somewhat aslant, so 

 that the animal should get at least one fore leg 

 clear, and tumble on to its side, when this accom- 

 plished rider was pretty sure to rise unhurt with 

 the reins in his hand. 



Now this diagonal style of jumping, judiciously 

 practised, is not without its advantages at less 

 dangerous fences than the uncompromising bit of 

 timber that turns us over. It necessarily increases 

 the width of a bank, affording the horse more 

 room for foothold, as it decreases the height and 

 strength of the growers, by taking them the way 

 they lie, and may, on occasion, save a good 

 hunter from a broken back, the penalty for 

 dropping both hind legs simultaneously and 

 perpendicularly into some steep cut ditch he has 

 failed to cover in his stride. 



126 



