Those days are now happily past. Nevertheless firing is still far too prevalent. It should be the last resort used only when everything else, including time, has failed. It should be the alternative to destruction.

THE SEAT IN STEEPLECHASING

It is currently said that the size of the fences at Aintree exacts the peculiar sit-back kind of riding which delights the eye and is generally adopted over this course. This assertion belongs to the class of the many considered ones we hear on all sides in matters of horsemanship, often from the mouths of people who should know better. 'What the size of the fences has to do with the matter it is difficult to understand. In the first place because it has now been proved for years that the forward seat is applicable to any angle a horse may make in jumping (some steeplechase fences are 6 feet 2 inches in height in Italy; the "National" does not exceed 5 feet 2 inches), and secondly because we see much the same type of seat in both professional and amateur English steeple-chasing over jumps half the size of Aintree fences. The latter being high but also wide, it follows that the arc the horse describes in the air must be long and comparatively flat if he is to clear them at all - and nothing tends more to shorten the length of a horse's trajectory than weight on his loins. In the comments which accompany the Press pictures of the Grand National, a horse falling on the landing side is often explained by the phrase "overjumped himself", whereas, on the contrary, he has jumped short, landed at too steep an angle and rolled over on to his head and neck, a mishap all too evidently due, if we analyse it properly, to the "sit-back" position of the rider and the pull on his 1 Extract from Santini's Riding Reflections, published by Country Life. mouth. On landing "a la Aintree", the jockey's hands are as far from the horse's mouth as the length of the reins will allow . . . and his body, to take from head to heel position, almost horizontal with the horse's spine. The results are . . . what they are! The horses land out of control, in complete disorder, and are not put straight again for several strides. Is it surprising if under these conditions, such a large proportion of starters remain by the way, or finish the course, for them happily, riderless?' NOTE.- Mr. Victor Emmanuel's entries, Rhyticere and Royal Arch, ridden 'forward' by the French jockeys Nicudot and Bedeloup, finished 4th and nth in the Grand National of 1931, and the forward seat was also adopted by Boy Lyall the winner on Crackle although how far he was correct I am not in a position to say. It has been described as vertical from his seat to his head, with a loose rein! which does not sound reassuring though it might constitute a step in the right direction. The famous French jockey Parfrement rode 'forward' in 1915 and repeated the performance on the same horse in 1916, finishing without mishap fifteenth and seventh.

HUNTING RULES FOR BEGINNERS

Take care about your turn-out. Nothing gives a horse away more than eccentricity of dress. See that your hunting crop is strong enough to open and hold a heavy gate. A little 'lady-like crop' is ridiculous. Find out what the 'cap' is, and have it ready when the Secretary asks for it. It is pleasanter to offer it him rather than to let him run after you for it.

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