ii6 LEAPING 



jumping water, at which, not alone is the speed as a rule 

 high, but the ground on landing is often soft and *' holding " 

 from the infiltration of water. It is evident that the '' deeper '' 

 is the ground, the more difficult it will be for a horse to 

 extricate his fore feet out of it in time to make way for his 

 hind feet We may see therefore the advisability in such 

 cases of leaning well back in the saddle. Figs. 209, 210, 

 and 211 show consecutive movements of the horse after 

 landing over a jump. 



A horse should not land with his head and neck bent, 

 as might be caused by the action of a severe bit which he is 

 afraid to '* face " ; for when the neck is bent, the muscles * 

 which draw the fore legs forward and enable them to reach 

 well to the front, will be more or less thrown out of action. 

 Hence, the rider ought to give the horse plenty of rein on 

 landing, and should try to avoid bringing his weight forward. 

 As an interesting point in the action of a severe bit in 

 leaping, I may mention that if we observe a horse that is 

 being ridden up to a high jump in a bit which he is afraid to 

 ''face,'' he will land, in the event of his clearing the obstacle, 

 more or less on all four legs at the same time, in his endeavour 

 to save his mouth from any sudden ''job," by keeping the 

 weight as much as he can off his fore hand. He may act in 

 the same way, even with a snaffle, if too short a martingale be 

 used. I may remark that the two '* defences " which a horse 

 generally uses against a severe bit, are to poke his nose up in 

 the air, and to draw his chin in towards his chest, and thereby 

 arch his neck. Many persons, against the evidence of photo- 

 graphy, assert that a clever jumper will generally land first 

 on his hind legs, and will then (so they say) be in the best 

 position to *'get away" quickly. They quite forget (or 

 perhaps do not know) that the hind limbs of the horse are 

 altogether unfitted to stand the violent shock which would be 



* The cliief of these muscles is the levator humeri^ which is attached to the top 

 of the head and to the upper third of the humerus. The nearer its points of 

 attachment are brought together, the less power has it to draw the hmb forward. 



