ARMOURED HORSEMEN 147 



the rider was locked against the cantle by the 

 straight thrust of his legs against box stirrups. 

 As chain mail gave way to the heavier plate 

 armour, the saddle bars were more and more 

 widely padded until they covered every avail- 

 able inch of the rigid ribs. 



Nobody seems to have noticed that with 

 every kind of armour a chamois or buckskin 

 lining afforded a rough-grain leather strapping 

 for the unarmoured seat and thighs, and this 

 gave a greasy grip against the oiled saddle. 



As the use of gunpowder advanced, piece by 

 piece the armour was put aside, until now 

 nothing remains but the cuirass ; but the 

 leather lining retained its usefulness, and 

 leather breeches are still in very general use 

 among modern horsemen because they give an 

 excellent grip on the saddle. 



Armour had reached and passed its greatest 

 weight when the Spaniards conquered the new 

 world, and the Conquistadores took to Peru 

 and Mexico their weight-distributing saddle, 

 buckskin grip, high cantle and box stirrups. 

 The strays from their horse and cattle stock 

 bred feral herds which spread into North 

 America. So stock riders were engaged to 

 handle the Spanish cattle on Andalusian 

 ponies. They kept the old war saddle quite 



