POSITION OF A SADDLE. 145 



BREAST-PLATES. 



There is only one form of breast-plate (Fig. 103). It is 

 attached at one end to the girth or girths, and at the other 

 end to the staples of the saddle. Its use is to prevent 

 the saddle shifting backwards, as it might do if the girths 

 were slack, especially if the animal was one of the " herring- 

 gutted " sort. Even with a well-shaped horse, a breast-plate 

 often comes in useful on a long day and in a hilly country. It 

 is much employed out hunting. 



CRUPPERS. 



The object of a crupper is to prevent the saddle going 

 forward, which it would be naturally inclined to do in pro- 

 portion to the comparative size of the animal's body behind 

 the girths. The continued infusion of thorough-bred blood 

 among our 'cross-country horses has gradually rendered the 

 use of cruppers obsolete in the hunting field. They are 

 still employed now and then by farmers, and a good deal in 

 the Colonies, where the local buck-jumpers often need some 

 forcible check to prevent them from getting the saddle on 

 their neck, when, by suddenly raising their head, they not 

 unfrequently succeed in breaking the girths and unseating 

 the rider. In pageants, a crupper is sometimes employed as 

 an attachment for a false tail. 



SURCINGLES 



Are rarely used by hunting men, as they savour too much 

 of the training stable and race-course. They are employed in 

 the Army and a good deal in the Colonies. 



POSITION OF A SADDLE ON A HORSE. 

 From the remarks made on pages 114 and 115, we see that 

 the saddle must not be put so far forward on the horse's back, 



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