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Tilting at the Ring

Tilting at the Ring.jpg An observation trainThumbnailsThe Water Quintain—XIV. CenturyAn observation trainThumbnailsThe Water Quintain—XIV. CenturyAn observation trainThumbnailsThe Water Quintain—XIV. CenturyAn observation trainThumbnailsThe Water Quintain—XIV. CenturyAn observation trainThumbnailsThe Water Quintain—XIV. Century

At the commencement of the seventeenth century, the pastime of running at the ring was reduced to a science. Pluvinel, who treats this subject at large, says, the length of the course was measured, and marked out according to the properties of the horses that were to run: for one of the swiftest kind, one [Pg 125]hundred paces from the starting place to the ring, and thirty paces beyond it, to stop him, were deemed necessary; but for such horses as had been trained to the exercise, and were more regular in their movements, eighty paces to the ring, and twenty beyond it, were thought to be sufficient. The ring, says the same author, ought to be placed with much precision, somewhat higher than the left eyebrow of the practitioner, when sitting upon his horse; because it was necessary for him to stoop a little in running towards it