68 SEATS AND SADDLES. 



fitted for holding or grasping than the thigh is ; more- 

 over, it has other functions to perform that interfere 

 with this. The best hunting, steeplechase, and mili- 

 tary riders we have ever seen, all agreed in this one 

 point at least that of depending on the thigh, and 

 not the " under-leg," for their seat ; and hence is de- 

 rived the grand cardinal rule for a good seat : " From 

 the hips upwards movable, in order to enable the rider 

 to vary his balance, or use his weapons ; from the knee 

 downward movable) fdr the use of the spur, and the 

 control of the horse's hind legs ; and between these 

 two points, hip and knee, fixed, for the seat." Accord- 

 ing to this rule, the middle of the rider adheres, both 

 by weight and muscular action, to the middle of the 

 horse ; according to the other system, the lower third 

 of the rider clings, by muscular action alone, to the 

 horse's shoulders, aided, perhaps, to a certain extent, 

 by the stirrup. 



But this brings us to the stirrup. Eiding was cer- 

 tainly invented and practised before saddles existed ; 

 and it is nearly equally certain that the first saddles, 

 pads, or whatever they were, had no stirrups, these 

 contrivances having been subsequently invented for 

 the purpose of giving the rider further aid in addition 

 to that derived from balance and friction. Even now- 

 adays many a man can ride bare-backed to hounds or 

 in the melee without stirrups ; and this very short 

 statement of facts ought, we think, to go far to prove 

 that stirrups are very subordinate in value to balance 

 and friction taken together, which is precisely why we 

 have used the term stirrup-riding in an opprobrious 

 sense. The "tongs -across -a -wall seat" depends on 

 balance and the stirrup, renouncing all contact of the 



