After practising this, move the board farther away and repeat; continue the exercise, each time measuring the distance, until you can pitch on to the ends from about 5 or 6 feet.
Fig. 60
Now jump up on to the end of the horse, as in [Fig. 60], then plunge forwards on to the other end, pitching on to the hands, and clearing the horse, as in leap-frog, coming down safely on the ground in front.
This exercise must be done with dash and vigour. If you are half-hearted about it you will come to grief.
The Hand-rings or Stirrups.
This simple apparatus consists of iron rings attached to two ropes suspended from a cross bar or from a ceiling, about seventeen or eighteen feet in length, and at a sufficient height from the ground to allow the feet to swing just clear. The rings or stirrups (the latter shape is the more convenient) should be covered with leather, and of a thickness affording a good grasp. The exercises that can be performed upon them are neither attractive nor various, but they are useful, and as no section on gymnastics would be complete without their introduction, we will proceed to describe them.
Fig. 61