RIDING TO HOUNDS. 295 
the latter is adopted. In sitting down the feet may be either resting on 
the ball of the toe, as in the other paces, or with the stirrup “home” to 
the boot, as is common in all field-riding. The body is thrown easily and 
slightly back, the knees take firm hold, the rider being careful not to grip the 
horse so tight as to distress him, which fault I have known very muscular 
men often commit. ‘The hands should be low, with sufficient pull at the 
mouth to restrain, but not to annoy and make him “ficht;” and if he is 
inclined to get his head down too much, or the reverse, they must be 
raised or lowered accordingly. When the standing in the stirrups is to be 
practised, the weight is thrown upon them, steadying it with the knees 
and thighs, which should keep firm hold of the saddle. The seat of the 
body is carried well back, while at the same time the loin is slightly 
arched ; but by this combined action the weight is not hanging over the 
shoulder of the horse, as it would be, and often is, when the breech is 
raised from the saddle and brought almost over the pommel, with the 
eyes of the rider looking down his horse’s forehead, or very nearly so. If 
a jockey of more than seven or eight stone, with a good seat, is watched, 
it will be seen that his leg does not descend straight from the knee, but 
that it is slightly thrown back from that line, and consequently that his 
centre of gravity is behind it, so that he can, by stiffening the joint, carry 
his body as far behind it as his stirrup is, without ceasing to stand in it. 
Very light jockeys adopt a somewhat different seat, riding with longer 
stirrups and throwing their weight greatly on the muscles of the thigh, 
while they raise the breech entirely from the saddle, but only for a com- 
paratively small distance. This gives them a strong hold of their horses, 
without which, being so small, they could not ride them. Standing in the 
stirrups cannot long be maintained without fatigue to the rider, and it is 
only adopted in racing or in short gallops over bad ground, as in hunting, 
when there is a deep piece of fallow, or a steep hill, or any other kind of 
ground calculated to tire the horse. 
RIDING TO HOUNDS. 
THE KIND OF SEAT generally adopted in riding to hounds has been 
already described, and I need not therefore allude to it again. I may, 
however, remind the tyro that the less he depends upon balance, and the 
stronger hold he can get of the saddle with his knees and calves, the more 
likely he will be to avoid a fall without his horse coming down also. If 
this accident happens, a loose seat sometimes befriends the rider by 
causing him to be thrown out of the way of the horse, but in the long 
run the man who has a strong grip of his saddle will fare the best. Good 
hands and judgment are equally necessary, and the combination of these 
three qualities makes up the finished performer across country, always 
supposing the presence of nerve in addition. 
‘THERE ARE CERTAIN RULES adopted in all hunting countries, which must 
be stringently carried out in order to ensure the safety of the hounds and 
horsemen, and avoid those disputes which would otherwise constantly 
occur between riders jealous of each other’s prowess. These may be 
summed up in the following plain directions :— 
WHEN NEAR THE HOUNDS keep to the right or left of them, and not 
directly behind, where you are always in danger of riding over some of the 
tail hounds. So also when the pack are crossing a thick fence, when 
there is often only one gap weak enough to allow of their getting over, 
avoid its proximity, and take a place at least a dozen yards off. 
