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SAVING Hi III
* TRIOKS OF JOCKEMM
GRAND NATIONAL THRILLS
Surprise is often expressed that in
ateepleehasing, particularly, in a race over
an immense course like the Grand National
course, Avhcro generally falls are' plentiful
,and severe, so fow of the riders are
seriously injured and hardly ever does a
fall prove fatal (writes Basil .Tozcr in the
London 'Daily Mail.') '? ' '.
Ma jor- Whytc-Melvilkj in Victorian days
the great authority -on; -fox-hunting, wrote
a' treatise hi whicji he 'proved' that if
certain niieswrncn ne laui.aown were ioi
Iowad,-ij6- riian falling iri... the :hun ting field
or between the flags need ever hurt him
self seriously. Yet only a few months
later his horse fell with him in a ploughed
field on' the way home from hunting and
ho Avas .killed. ; -. ?-.'?? . .-. .,.?-
?That might seem, to iudica te- that -Why tet
Melville's rules and theories were valueless,;
but it does not. On the contrary, that he
should have- been killed.: in' that way is'\:
some extent supports his theory that al
most always the worst accidents happen
at the smallest - fences, or when^a -horse,
stumbles in open country; also. that the
men who get the worst fails are usually tho
best horsemen. ?
For a ifinished horseman parts' company
with his 'horse' only under'' what niay bo
called severe provocation, the result being
that if his horse falls at. a. fence withoufe
his parting company he 'will' 'inin much
more risk of breaking a limb than he
would if shot 'out of a saddle and so clear
of the horse. ? ? ''. '' '.' .' '??.?=.'-. ? ..
Hence the reason why the worst acci
dents happen generally at the smallest
fences in the hunting iield, and at hole
and-corner steeplechase meetings where
the fences are ' comparatively insignifi
cant; horse aid ?? man fall together, and as
likely as 'not the horse on the top of the
man. _ '
In a race like the Grand National, run
at terrific speed 'and' over' enormous : ob
stacles, if a horse hits a fence he generally
turns a somersault, shooting his rider
right out of the saddle^ while- if he stum
bles badly on landing, while going; at that
pace, the best rider in the world is bound
to be flung off, more particularly now that
fiross-eountry jockeys, top, ride with short
stirrups. ? . ...
Whyte-Melville's theory -was that every
rider should be prepared to/fall at .every
fence arid fling his- body, forward in such
a, way that he will land .on his back. But,
to think of making the . attempt when
sAeeplechasiug would bo grotesque,, for the
Vhole thing is .over in a second. ;', .
Another raason why, professional cross
country riders who are always at. the game
areso seldom hurt is that they must 'neces-
sarily always be in training^ .and therefore
m the perfect condition summed up in the
phrase, 'hard as nails.' Arid as all ath
letets and pugilists know, a, man in per-,
feet training can safely be knocked 'to an
extent that would pr.obably prove fatal' i£/
he were' not in-'t-rairihig. '? '? ' ??'.'-?' ?'. '
R.S.P.C.A. Animal Ball.— The committee
of the W.A. Royal 'Society -:f or -'the 'Pre-
vention of Cruelty, to; Animals (Ip&) . ? ara
again arranging their 'annual fun.eti.ou, the
'Animal'31 ball iir aid of the '.society's
funds, to be held- in Goveijrinient1- House
ballroom on Thursday, July 14.- .Organis
ers ?? of fancy sets arc' requested to '' ' jriake
immediate- application.- for -floor -space' to
Mrs, A. .Yentris.v ,25 , Cdlin-streofe, . .We^
Perth. ' . ; . _.'..: ?-; .;^fi^p:-^.:vv/;
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