THE SHAT. 289 
a fidgety horse is sometimes of considerable length. The leg is now 
thrown gently over the saddle, and as it reaches the cantle the hand is 
withdrawn, after which the body sinks into the saddle in an easy and 
graceful manner. The right foot is then placed in the stirrup, with or 
without the aid of the right hand holding it. 
Suc 1s THE EnciisH MeTHoD. Mr. Rarey, in opposition to this plan, 
advises that the right hand and arm shall be thrown over the saddle, the 
horseman standing with his back to the quarters, and thus incurring the 
chance of being severely kicked. 
THE SEAT. 
THE POSITION OF THE rider in tie saddle, called “the seat,” admits of 
several variations according to the purpose to which he is devoted, but it 
is mainly influenced by the length of the stirrups. In the military style 
these are so long that the weight of the body is conveyed to the saddle 
by the inside of the thighs, or “fork” alone, while in that adopted in the 
Kast this part scarcely touches the saddle, and the breech and feet distri- 
bute the weight between them. Colonel Greenwood, who is the only 
military writer on horsemanship that can be taken as a guide for the road, 
tells us—“ There is one direction which I think applies to all seats. Turn 
the thigh from the hip, so as to bring the hollow to the saddle; this 
places the foot straight to the front, with the heel out and the toe in. 
Trotting without stirrups on the thigh only, with the heel down and the 
toe up, shoulders back, a snaffle rein in each hand lke a rough-rider, is 
the best possible position for sitting.” Now the latter part of this is quite 
true, but the former is not quite consistent with my own experience, for 
if the short stirrups of the Eastern horseman are adopted, the hollow of the 
thigh cannot be brought to the saddle, yet this style he admits is “ad- 
mirable in its way.” Dismissing then the military seat for which Colonel 
Greenwood’s directions may suffice, I may assert that, in the ordinary 
English style, there are four points necessary to be considered; namely, 
(1) the position of the weight, which will be mainly influenced by (2) 
the position of the knees well forward on the flap, (3) the proper length 
of the stirrup-leathers, and (4) the carriage of the body. If the weight is 
not laid upon the middle of the saddle, which is the axis of the “see- 
saw” motion made in the gallop, it has to be raised at every stride, and 
thus additional labour is thrown on the horse. With long stirrups in the 
military style this is of necessity done; but, with short stirrups, the 
knees are often placed on the flaps behind the leathers, and then the 
breech remains close to the cantle and sometimes almost overlapping it. 
To get the length of leather adapted to most men, though there are occa- 
sionally exceptions, the rider should sit well on his fork, and then the 
stirrups should be taken up or let down till they just touch the ankle bone. 
Tor road riding this enables the hollow of the thigh to touch the saddle, 
because the ball of the foot being on the stirrup, the heel is down an inch 
and a half below it; whilst, in the hunting-field, as the stirrup is worn 
“home,” the knee is carried higher and more forward on the saddle, and 
the weight is distributed between it, the breech, and the foot. With re- 
gard to the carriage of the body, all the directions in the world will not 
make it easy, and without the supervision of a master, or a friend, to point 
out defects, no one can be sure that he is sitting in a good, much less an 
elegant style. It is not possible even to know that the shoulders are 
square, or that the body is not carried on one side, defects which I have 
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