ii8 LEAPING, 



force. If, in such a case, the knees be kept straight, the 

 shock will fall in its entirety on the pelvis, at the hip joints, 

 and may be transmitted with very serious effect to the spinal 

 cord. Men who practise hurdle-racing on foot, alight on one 

 foot, and then bound off on to the other ; as their great object 

 is to lose no time in getting away from their fences, which, 

 being comparatively low, do not greatly affect the athlete's 

 stability. 



We may see from the foregoing considerations, that for 

 safety and quickness in *' getting away " after a leap, it is 

 essential for the fore legs to be removed out of the way of 

 the hind feet, and for the fore hand, which was previously 

 depressed by the weight of the body falling on it (as in Fig. 

 189), to be raised by the straightening of the fore legs (Figs. 

 190 to 194). These two actions, I need hardly say, have to 

 be performed with speed and precision. ^ Hence, it is neces- 

 sary for the horse to see where he is going to place his feet 

 on landing; so that he may be prepared for the required 

 movements of the limbs. If he be prevented from knowing 

 when his feet will come down on the ground, there will be 

 loss of time to calling the muscles of the limbs into action, and 

 the probability of an accident will be greatly increased. A 

 common way some riders have ^ of making a horse, when 

 jumping, fall or over-reach in this manner, is to '^^ throw up 

 their hands," and thus cause the animal to unduly raise and 

 extend his head, which he does with the object of " saving '' 

 his mouth ; the result being that the horse cannot accurately 

 see where he is going to put his feet. The rider, on the 

 contrary, should keep his hands low and should give his mount 

 plenty of rein, so as not to interfere with the animal's move- 

 ments when landing. 



Influence of Blood in Jumping.— Seeing the manner in 

 which the rate of speed influences the extent of the long jump, 

 we may reasonably conclude that a fast galloper, other things 

 being equal, would jump a greater width than a slow horse. 

 The possession of great galloping speed, however, would not, 



