CHAPTER XVI 



RIDING AND DRIVING 



SADDLES — BRIDLES— JIOUNTING AXD DISMOUNTING — THE SEAT — MANAGEMENT OF THE 

 REINS — USE OF SPI'RS — MODES OF STARTING THE HORSE INTO HIS VARIOUS PACES — 

 RIDING TO HOUNDS — OUT-DOOR A'ICES AND BAD HABITS — HARNESS — DRIVING A SINGLE 

 HORSE — A PAIR — FOUR-IN-HAND. 



SADDLES 



There is a fashion in saddles, as in everything else which admits of altera- 

 tion. For the last fifty years it may be said that no real improvement has 

 been made in our English saddles, and we have simply gone from plain flaps 

 to padded ones, and back again. Up to the beginning of the present 

 century the trees were made too heavy and clumsy, and a hunting saddle of 

 less weight than fourteen pounds was never thought of, while the majority 

 would turn the scale at sixteen pounds. But when the pace of the hunter 

 was increased the attention of the saddler was directed to the diminution of 

 the weight of the tree without loss of strength, and certainly with an excel- 

 lent result, as is shown in a first-class nine-pound saddle, roomy enough to 

 carry a man of sixteen stone with moderate comfort. Whether his horse 

 can do his work proportionately better for this saving of five pounds admits 

 of some question ; but there can be no doubt that wherever a very light 

 saddle is used in the hunting-field the greatest care is necessary that it fits 

 to a nicety, and it can seldom be adapted to more than one horse in a stud 

 without altering the stuffing of the pannel. The attempt should never be 

 made to reduce the size of the tree, for although the rider may be willing to 

 put up with the want of roominess, yet the horse will sufibr in his back 

 from the weight not being sufficiently distributed. 



A tree was at one time in vogue which had the merit of not pressing on 

 the withers, as the pommel was cut back two or three inches, but the extra 

 strength and weight incurred soon drove it out of use, besides which it was 

 found that it did not fit both a narrow and a thick shoulder equally well. 

 For these reasons it is now admitted that in the tree itself there is little 

 variety for choice, and that the saddles of the best London makers only 

 difier in their peculiar cut from one another, while in this point alone 

 (excluding of course woi'kmanship and material) are they superior to the 

 worst specimens made in our country towns. The change from plain flaps 

 to padded ones has been alluded to, and it will be necessary here to discuss 

 the merits of each. In " the Shires " the fashion now is to adopt the 

 revived plain flap, and the reason which is given is that the padding arrests 



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