THE SADDLE. 63 



In some of the mounted troops of the British Army 

 an attempt has been made, it would seem, to ascertain 

 whether the crupper can be dispensed with or not, and 

 it is stated that the men decided very generally in 

 favour of retaining it, because they found that without 

 a crupper the saddle was liable to turn over in the 

 act of mounting or dismounting. This is very proba- 

 ble, nay ! it is almost certain to take place when the 

 whole pack is built up into a mountain and the hinder 

 knob of the tree, which the rider uses to help him into 

 and out of the saddle, sticks up in such a manner as to 

 supply a most powerful lever for turning the saddle 

 round. The author has a strong suspicion that the felt- 

 plate favom-s this tm-ning of the saddle much more than 

 a well folded blanket would, especially when the former 

 has become less flexible and at the same time more 

 slippery by use. However that may be, it is certain 

 that if the saddles and packs of mounted troops are 

 found to be liable to turn round when the rider mounts 

 or dismounts, other evils of at least equal magnitude 

 will not be cured by the retention of the crupper as an 

 article of horse furniture. 



Sometimes, it happens that this saddle turning is 

 owing to a short man being put on a tall horse. No 

 doubt the average height of a squadron may be made to 

 look more uniform by this ingenious cookery, but the real 

 efficiency is scarcely imj^roved. In countries where 

 general obligation to military service exists, there 

 should never be much difficulty in selecting cavalry 

 recruits of a size suitable to the average height of the 

 remounts obtainable.^ In Great Britain this is not so 



^ There are however even then some difl&culties to overcome ; 

 for instance the Magyars want, all of them, to be Hussars and 



