i6 HORSE AND MAN. 



example of all the old riding masters, French and foreign. 

 We must admit that formerly riders had quite a different seat 

 to those of the present time. Stiffness has replaced the 

 pliability, ease and grace of the olden time, because pupils 

 have fallen into bad habits from the commencement of their 

 instruction, either from want of comprehension or on account 

 of being badly taught. 



Not only the premature, but also the excessive use of the 

 stn-rups has other faults. I am of opinion that the great 

 majority of dangerous falls are caused by their abuse. For 



example, Mr. X is run away with b}' his horse in the 



Forest of Saint-Germain ; he sits well down into the saddle, 

 succeeds in stopping the animal, and starts into a trot on his 

 stirrups ; unfortunately, a stirrup leather breaks at this 



moment, and Mr. X falls on his head and is killed. Every 



horseman knows that the breaking of a stirrup leather can 

 cause a rider to fall on his head, only because the man had 

 put all his weight on the stirrups, and was consequently more 

 or less out of the saddle. If he was not bearing his weight 

 on the stirrups he might, no doubt, roll off, but the severity 

 of the fall would be more or less broken by the fact that the 

 knees would be gripping the flaps of the saddle. I would go 

 further and say that if a rider did not depend on his stirrups, 

 he would hardly ever fall off on account of a stirrup leather 

 breaking. 



Let us take another example. Mr. Z , at Toulouse, 



rides out of his stable at a walk ; his horse falls, and 



Mr. Z is thrown forward on to his head and is killed. 



We need no knowledge of riding to understand that if he had 

 been sitting in his saddle he could not have been thrown 

 forward with such violence. I hasten to add that I recall 

 these two well-remembered accidents, not in a spirit of 

 criticism, but in order to explain the sad consequences which 

 may arise from the abuse of the stirrups, and in the hope 



