402 THE HORSE 



in one place. Any one who has run a race at school with a 

 comrade on his back, knows what a vast difference there is 

 in carrying two persons of the same weight. One sits so 

 lightly the motions of the limbs are scarcely impeded, and 

 it is hardly noticed that he is on one's back ; but the other 

 allows all his weight to sag into one place, feeling as if 

 he is so much lead, and soon tires his carrier. It must 

 be the same with a horse, and it is common knowledge that 

 it is more tiring to a horse to carry dead weight than a 

 person who is as heavy, but a good rider. At the same time 

 it is better for the horse to carry the dead weight than to 

 have a bad rider put up. A great objection to the American 

 seat is that the weight is all in one place, and cannot be 

 distributed in the same way as before. Moreover, by the 

 very forward seat, with the reins held close up to the horse's 

 head, there is a great strain on the muscles of the neck, as 

 the burden is imposed at the end of a long lever. 



Tod Sloan overlooked the fact that a rider of a bicycle, 

 when crouching down, still has the weight within the 

 compass of the two wheels which support the frame ; but 

 a jockey stretched out upon the horse's neck, supporting 

 himself to a great degree by the bit, is far beyond the limbs 

 which support the body of the horse. 



It is true that the American position takes the weight 

 off the loins, so that the horse gallops with more freedom ; 

 but a first-class jockey in the old style, when standing up 

 in his stirrups, and with some of his weight resting on his 

 thighs, not only took his weight off the horse's loins but 

 was so glued to the horse that he was carried by it as a part 

 of itself, in a fashion no one can hope to emulate with the 

 American seat. How many pounds this meant in favour 

 of the former it is impossible to state, but it must certainly 

 have been a good many. 



Another difference between the effect of the forward seat 

 on a bicycle and on a horse, is that the former being made 

 of metal does not tire, however long the weight remains in 

 one place. It is different, however, with a horse, whose 

 muscles must feel the burden after a time, and the relief 

 was great when a jockey sat down to finish his race, after 



