12 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 



without exception. There is a great value in schools ; 

 for, making due allowance for individuality, they enable 

 us to form a correct estimate of what the scholars can 

 do. For instance, in " welters " we impose penalties on 

 professional jocks, because we know that they have 

 been trained in a certain school ; whereas we have no 

 standard of comparison for gentlemen-riders. 



It is proposed to illustrate this portion of the book 

 with drawings of horsemen, representing various styles 

 of European and Asiatic riding, taken from portraits, 

 photographs, and pictures executed by artists who had 

 no preconceived theories to bolster up, and picked, 

 nearly at random from such materials as were available 

 They will be found to confirm, in a remarkable manner, 

 the truth of the general principles laid down, as well 

 by their discrepancies as their points of resemblance, 

 and will no doubt prove interesting to many readers in 

 other respects. 



The European cavalry soldier is compelled to put on 

 his horse's back, in addition to his own weight and 

 that of the saddle, the extra burden of a huge pack of 

 things forming his kit. It is obvious that the most 

 careful adjustment of the rider and saddle to the gene- 

 ral equilibrium of himself and horse will avail little if 

 the balance be destroyed from the moment the pack is 

 put on ; nor will it do to make this merely a counter- 

 poise to the rider, because he is frequently required to 

 ride either in an empty saddle or with various amounts 

 of pack, therefore the equilibrium must be at all times 

 maintainable, whatever the absolute weight ma}^ be. 

 The neglect of this is one of the main causes of the 

 sore-back disasters that usually occur at the commence- 

 ment of a campaign, and, to the great astonishment 



