Let your horse, if he is anything of a fencer, choose his own way and pace to take his jumps.

In riding to hounds, if practicable, it is well to avoid newly made or repaired ditches or fences; your steed is apt to encounter such with diffidence; he does not take the jump with the same will, fears there's something up," and from want of confidence may very possibly make a mistake.

It would be well, for cross-country horsemen more especially, to bear in mind Sir Francis Head's observation, as applied to riders as well as horses, that "the belly lifts the legs;" meaning, I take it, that if man or horse is out of tone from derangement of the stomach or general debility, he cannot be up to the mark or fit for any physical exertion. It is well known to steeplechase riders and men who ride straight to hounds, that occasionally, in consequence of inertion, indulgence, or dissipation, having deranged the stomach or nervous system, a rider will be done up before his steed, who, oppressed with a comparatively dead weight knocking about on his back, will himself follow suit from want of being held together, and probably come a burster at some jump before the finish.

To a practical horseman the act of standing in the stirrups will suggest itself as a matter of expediency to ease himself, when the horse is pulling hard at or near his full galloping pace.

The great advantage of a rider easing his bearer by fortunes related, as they frequently are, in pretty nearly the following terms:-"I found my horse going sluggishly at his fences; and one place looking rather biggish, I shook him up with the bit, and put both heels into him to rouse him, but somehow or other the brute took off too soon, caught his fore feet, I suppose, against something, and came such a cropper on the other side!" or, beast kept going at such a bat at his fences that I brought him to book with my hands down, and with a good pull steadied him; but the brute with his awkwardness missed his footing on landing, dropped his hind legs into the brook somehow, and fell back on me, giving me a regular sousing!"

The

walking up-hill is treated of under the head of "Work," page 36.

When a rider finds his horse going tender or lame, he ought immediately to dismount and examine his feet. If a stone has become bedded between the clefts of the frog, or got between shoe and sole, and a picker does not happen to be at hand, a suitable stone should be sought wherewith to dislodge the one in the foot. If no stone in the foot can be discovered as causing the lameness, closer examination must be made in search of a nail, a piece of iron or rough glass, or other damage to the sole. If no apparent means of relief present itself, the sooner the beast is led to the nearest place where a proper examination of the foot can take place the better.* For the amount of work a horse can do, see remarks on that subject, under the head of "Work," page 35; and to avoid broken knees, see hints on that subject, pages 51 and 141.

Mounting of Lady in Side-Saddle. The mounter, being as close as possible to the animal, should place his right hand on his right knee, and in it receive the lady's left foot. When she springs she should straighten her left knee, at the same time having in her right hand the reins, with a fast hold of the middle crutch, and her left hand on the mounter's shoulder to help her to spring up.

* In obscure lameness, to aid towards discovery of the affected part, having first decided which leg or foot is diseased, it is not a bad plan to walk the animal into a stream above the knees and take him out again (or have water dashed at once fully over the member), then kneel and closely observe which spot on the surface dries first-that which does so will probably prove to be the most inflamed part.

HARNESSING.

The General Mounting, whether of brass or silver-plated (to correspond with the mountings of the carriage), or with leather-covered buckles, is all a matter of taste; the leather being, however, the least durable.

A Dry Harness - Room is indispensable, in which there should be shallow presses with pegs, but no shelves; otherwise, coverings should be provided for harness and saddles to preserve them from flying dust.

Style. In pairing horses for draught, if one be rather larger than the other, the larger should be placed on the near or left side, as the left-hand side of the road being that on which vehicles travel, the nearside horse will generally be going an inch or more lower than the off-side one, and the difference of size in the pair will be less perceptible.

If the animals are of an even size, and one be more lazy than the other, that one should be placed at the off side, being thus more conveniently situated to receive gentle reminders from the whip without observation. If one of the pair will carry his head higher than the other, his coupling-rein* should run under that of the animal that leans his head the most, so as to bring their heads as much on a level as possible. An ivory ring, to run the coupling-reins through, looks and acts well.

Both manes should be trained to flow either in or

* In double harness, to increase your power in turning, shorten the coupling-reins; and to ease your horses, lengthen these to let their heads work more straight forward.

out from the pole; the latter way is probably preferable.

Horses left to stand harnessed in the stable should be turned round in the stalls and fastened with the T's of two pillar-reins passed through the rings of the bridoon of bit. Should there be no pillar-reins in pairs belonging to the stern-posts of each stall, tie the horses' heads up with the rack-rein, so as to prevent their lying down in the harness.

As a maxim, never leave a bridle on in the stable, unless in the case where the head can be sustained by a pair of pillar-reins from the stern-posts. Most serious accidents have occurred through neglect of this rule.

In Yoking or "putting to," the shafts of a vehicle must never be left on the ground while the horse is being backed into them. If the shafts touch him he will probably kick, or he may injure by standing on them. In double harness, especially with spirited. animals, to prevent the danger of their backing, and being induced to kick by coming in contact with the splinter-bar when putting to, first confine them to the point of the pole by the pole chains or leathers, so lengthened as to enable the traces to be attached (the outer ones first) to the carriage; which done, tighten the chains or leathers to their working length. Accidents may thus be averted. From the moment horses are put to" their draught, until they are driven off, some one should stand before their heads, whether they be in single, pair, or four-horse harness.

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Traces. Great care should be taken in adjusting these to prove that they are of an even length, as the least deviation in equality is liable, by pressure on one

side, to produce a sore on the neck, under the collar of the horse that happens to be on the side of the shortest trace. See "Jibbing," page 87.

The buckles of all traces and back-bands ought to be provided with detached pieces of leather cut square the width of those straps, and placed under the buckles the tongues of which pass through these bits of leather; the straps, thus protected from being cut by the buckles, will wear nearly thrice as long as otherwise, and there is nothing unsightly in the arrangement.

In all cases draught-horses should be placed close to their work—i.e., the traces should meet as short as will just allow of the animals going down an inclination at a brisk pace without coming in contact with the carriage; the britching for single, and the pole-chains for double harness, being tightened in proportion, to keep the carriage from running on them down-hill.

For Pole-Chains and Swinging-Bars, see page 73. The Hames. In order to divide the draught or pressure of the traces on the shoulders a little, the hames might be furnished with scroll draught eyes; this, however, has become unfashionable from being much used by cabmen, and for rough draught.

Hames Top- Straps.-Care should be taken that these are perfectly sound and strong, especially in double harness, where the strain of stopping and backing the carriage of necessity comes upon them.

Britching and Kicking-Strap.—It is better in single harness to have the britching made with side-straps attached to the buckle or tug of the back-band, and not to pass over the shaft (confined there by a loop or staple as is usual). These side-straps can be tightened or loosened according to the size of the animal, and if