THE MILITARY SEAT. 101 



The same principle applies exactly to civilian sad- 

 dles. If you know yourself how you want to sit, you 

 must tell this to the saddler before he has constructed 

 the seat, as that depends on him and not on the saddle- 

 tree maker. It is also evident that, if the stirrups of a 

 given tree happen to be hung too far forward, the de- 

 fect can only be remedied by bringing the lowest point 

 of the seat of the saddle nearer to them, for the tree 

 itself must remain as the rule of thumb turned it out 

 of the workshop. Civilians fancy that a cavalry seat 

 must be stiff and constrained ; to be good it must 

 be perfectly easy and unconstrained, and then it will 

 not only answer its purpose, but be really graceful. 



One of the great difficulties is about the pack. There 

 is no use in putting the saddle in the middle of the 

 horse's back, and the stirrups and rider in the middle 

 of the saddle, unless you at the same time distribute 

 the weight of the pack equably before and behind the 

 latter ; the component parts of the dead weight must 

 be accurately balanced against each other. As regards 

 the form, it should be made as flat as possible, instead 

 of being built up into two great mountains in front 

 and rear of the rider's seat, and this for the following 

 reasons : First, the nearer the pack is to the perpen- 

 dicular line falling through the centres of motion and 

 gravity the less will it incommode the horse by its 

 vibrations, tend to displace the saddle, or be liable to 

 break the straps and shake loose itself ; and the centre 

 of gravity is most undoubtedly under the rider's seat ; 

 therefore, on this account alone, the lower and flatter 



saddle, as far down as the tops of the girth at each side, but it is 

 on the length of the bearing-strap, and the way in which it is laced, 

 that the form of the seat will depend. Of course all the edges of 

 these wooden saddles must be nicely bevelled off. 



