Turning, however, from the delicate and timid to those whose health and physique enable them to hold their own in the front rank, I venture to point out a possible casualty that may happen in hunting, which, although not of frequent occurrence, may easily be attended with dangerous results if the fair rider with hounds is unacquainted with the means of counteracting it. I allude to the possibility of a horse in crossing a ford, where the stream is rapid and the bottom uneven, losing his footing. I have seen this occur more than once, both to good men and to ladies, and the result was not only an immersion over head and ears, but considerable danger as well. This is easily to be prevented, as follows: The fact of a horse losing his footing in deep water is at once apparent by his making a half plunge, and commencing to swim, which instinct teaches him to do directly he feels that he is out of his depth. At such a moment, if the rider confines the horse, he will inevitably roll over in his struggle. The great thing, therefore, on such an occasion is at once to give him his head, quitting the curb rein entirely, and scarcely feeling the snaffle, "while any attempt to guide the horse should be done by the slightest touch possible" (see "Aid Book"). The reins should be passed into the right hand, with which, holding the crop also, the rider should take a firm hold of the upper crutch of the saddle. She should, at the same time, with her left hand raise her skirt well up, disengage her left leg (with the foot, however, still in the stirrup), and place it _over the third crutch_. By these means she will avoid any risk of the horse striking her on the left heel with his near hind hoof, which otherwise in his struggle he would be almost certain to do. If a horse is left to himself he will swim almost any distance with the greatest ease, even with a rider on his back; and there is no more difficulty in sitting on him in the form above named than in cantering on _terra firma_. It is absolutely necessary, however, to get the foot--and especially the stirrup--out of the way, otherwise there is always danger of his entangling himself with them or with the skirt. When the horse recovers his footing on the bottom he will make another struggle, but the hold of the right hand upon the pommel will always preserve the seat of the rider. To be quite safe in such a predicament is simply a question of knowing what to do, and having the presence of mind to do it _quickly_. To show that the necessity for swimming a horse may occur to a lady as well as to a gentleman the following case, I trust, will suffice.