Crossing a stream on horseback is not always easy, and to transfer oneself form one horse to another during the process is inviting a ducking, if nothing worse. In the same way, if we think it necessary to make changes, we must choose the right moment to make them.
In 1864, at the height of the American Civil War, there were demands for a change in the presidency. The then president, Abraham Lincoln, replied to his critics:
‘I have not permitted myself, gentlemen, to conclude that I am the best man in the country; but I am reminded in this connexion of a story of an old Dutch farmer, who remarked to a companion once that it was not best to swap horses when crossing a stream.