THE MILITARY SEAT. 97 



weight as he pleases ; he may vary his position in the 

 saddle, which constitutes the whole of the dead weight, 

 and need not exceed 14 Ib. ; his doing so must not 

 necessarily give his horse a sore back or bruised 

 withers. On the other hand, the dead weight carried 

 by the troop-horse is most usually equal to, in many 

 cases greater than, that of the rider ; a shifting of the 

 seat will therefore necessarily destroy not only the poise 

 of the horse, but, what is still worse, that of the saddle 

 and this is what kills the horses, or at least sends 

 them into hospital. The cavalry soldier's seat must be 

 therefore fixed, and not subject to variation; in charg- 

 ing he must bend his body forwards, from the hips 

 upwards, in order to use his weapons, and stand in his 

 stirrups, and this will all suffice to accelerate the speed 

 of his horse. The grand rule is to arrange the saddle 

 itself and the stirrups so that the rider can only sit in 

 the proper position, that he falls naturally into it, and 

 that it requires no muscular effort to maintain it. If 

 this be not the case, the moment the man becomes 

 tired, or his horse makes a rapid movement, the whole 

 seat is lost, and the muscular effort that should remain 

 altogether available for the sabre or lance, is expended 

 in endeavouring to maintain or regain an injudicious 

 seat. The true seat is therefore in the middle of the 

 saddle, whose upper surface should be so formed as not 

 to admit of any other one ; then the stirrup must be 

 under the seat, and not 8 to 12 inches in front of it. 

 The English hussar, Plate VII. , is evidently expending 

 muscular action to keep his stirrup in a certain position 

 at an angle to its natural fall, instead of the stirrup 

 supporting his leg as the latter falls. Such a position 

 is not maintainable for any length of time, or in sharp 



