84 SEATS AND SADDLES. 



stumble at the moment the rider is in the air, is the 

 most common cause of the accidents that occur so fre- 

 quently. 



Now, in truth, there is no reason why this English 

 system of rising in the stirrups (in trotting) should not 

 be practised equally well, not to say better, with the 

 stirrup near the middle of the saddle instead of at one 

 end. The difference is this, that a much less amount 

 of rise will suffice, and the seat is therefore not only 

 less completely abandoned, but also for a shorter time ; 

 the horse's balance is not destroyed ; and fine bitting 

 may be resorted to.* There is, however, a further 

 peculiarity belonging to this English method that is 

 worth understanding, because the successful trotting of 

 many horses depends on its being so. The " bobber 

 up and down " rises and falls ivitli each tread of the 

 horse; the English rider only with the intermediate 

 ones : he always comes down on his saddle simultan- 

 eously with one and the same hind leg ; and the con- 

 sequence is, that in trotting after this fashion one 

 diagonal pair of legs is constantly saved from the recoil, 

 and the other as constantly exposed to it in an aggra- 

 vated form. 



Every practical rider must have observed that with 

 certain horses there is a difficulty, in starting to trot, 

 in the accommodation of the rider's rise in the stirrups 

 to the first movements : he will have to feel his way, as 

 it were, to the proper leg, and perhaps be obliged to sit 

 out two or three shakes before he can get at it ; for 

 many horses trot unequally that is, take a longer stride 



* The author has done many a mile of hard work in this way in a 

 military saddle with stirrups exactly central ; and ridden to English 

 foxhounds also tolerably well in full military fig in a stiff country. 



