/ 



THE SADDLE. 47 



quently the less risk of sore back, provided cdioays that 

 the 2)ressure he equally distributed over the whole sur- 

 face. To make a saddle a yard long, and put the weight ! 

 altogether at one of its extremities, is not the way to 

 attain this very desirable object, as shall be more fully 

 explained presently.* 



There must, however, be some limit to the size of a 

 saddle, for its own absolute weight is a matter of seri- 

 ous consideration : it. goes into the scale with the jock^ 

 Let the size he projooriioried to the weight to he carried, 

 and if you have a tender-backed horse, make it a little 

 bigger than would be otherwise necessary. Of course 

 a jock can ride his race on a thing that is more a 

 contrivance for hanging up a pair of stiiTups than a 

 saddle, whilst a sixteen-^tone rider must divide his 

 weight over as large a surface as convenient. 



There are two ways in wliich the weight of the sad- 

 dle may be decreased without its useful under surfacej 

 being narrowed. The first is to avoid extending the 

 frame (tree), or indeed any other part of the saddle, be- 

 yond the surfaces where it really has to support pres- 

 sure ; and this being exercised chiefly in a perpendicular 

 direction, it is not only useless but absurd to make 

 these extend too far down over the ribs laterally. 

 The second is to use, for the tree, materials combining> 

 great strength and moderate elasticity with the least) 

 possible weight. A civilian saddle, made altogether 

 of wood, is a very clumsy aflair, and it is therefore the 



* As famiHar illustrations of the principle may be mentioned 

 the difference of depth of track of broad and narrow tired wheels, 

 or of a roller as compared with both : or, a board of one foot 

 square will sink deeper into soft ground under a man's weight 

 than one of double that size ; and this latter will sink as deep 

 as the former if weighted only at one end. 



