238 MODERN FAHRIEU. 



cessity for some inclination of the body forward, 

 and nothing can be more awkward and ridiculous 

 than a horseman leaning forward, with a back as 

 straight and stiff as a stake, his posteriors protruded 

 in the same degree. The true seat is naturally, 

 easily, and upright in the saddle, as in a chair ; the 

 knees about as much bent ; the legs falling nearly 

 straight down the horse's sides, and the feet home 

 in the stirrups ; the hands somewhat above the 

 pommel of the saddle, elbows close to the sides, and 

 the view directed between the horse's ears. Jockey 

 riding is, in truth, something between sitting and 

 kneeling ; and the length which a man rides should 

 be so regulated, that he may be, as it were, buoyant 

 in his stirrups, without being so much elevated 

 above the saddle as to depend upon the bridle for 

 his support : at the same time, he must not ride so 

 long as to sit a dead weight upon his horse. A 

 man who rides too short, and is elevated too much 

 above the saddle, must necessarily have a vacillating 

 and uncertain seat. Of late years, and since the 

 military mania has bewitched our country, the rid- 

 ing-house mode, of no more than the toe or ball of 

 the foot in the stirrup, has prevailed to a considera- 

 ble degree. We have seen directions too of late, in 

 print, for the jockey to turn his toe in, and his heel 

 out, a Id militaire ; as though, like Watty Cockney, 

 it were apprehended he could not otherwise keep 

 his spurs out of the horse's sides : a groundless ap- 

 prehension in a well-seated jockey, who, of the two, 

 will find the greatest difficulty in reaching his 

 horse's sides with his spurs. 



Chifney recommends riding a racer with a slack 

 rein ; but surely it is necessary, in most cases, to 

 hold a horse sufficiently close, to keep him together 

 and steady ; nor can you otherwise regulate the 

 speed of a horse, to make the most of him. Fairly 

 pulling at a racer, whilst he has the full liberty of 

 extending his head and neck to the utmost, can 



