SEATS. 69^ 



The leg, from the knee doY>-nward, is rauch less fitted 

 for holding or grasping than the thigh is ; moreoyer^ 

 it has other functions to perform that interfere with 

 this. The best hunting, steeplechase, and military 

 riders we have ever seen, all agreed on this one point 

 at least — that of depending on the thigh, and not the 

 *• under-leg," for their seat ; and hence is derived the 

 grand cardinal rule for a good seat : " From the hip& 

 upwards movable, in order to enable the rider to vary 

 his balance, or use his weapons ; from the knee down- 

 ward movable, for the use of the spur, and the control 

 of the horse's hind legs ; and between these two points, 

 hip and knee, fixed, for the seat." According to this 

 rule, the middle of the rider adheres, both by weight 

 and muscular action, to the middle of the horse ; ac- 

 cording to the other system, the lower third of the 

 rider clings, by muscular action alone, to the horse's 

 shoulders, aided, perhaps, to a certain extent, by th^' 

 stiri'up. 



But this brings us to the stirrup. Riding was cer\ 

 tainly invented and practised before saddles existed ; 

 and it is nearly equally certain that the first saddles, 

 pads, or whatever, they were, had no stirrups, these 

 contrivances having been subsequently invented for 

 the purpose of giving the rider further aid in addi- 

 tion to that derived from balance and friction. Even 

 nowadays many a man can ride bare-backed to hounds 

 or itt the melee without stirrups ; and this very short 

 statement of facts ought, we think, to go far to prove 

 that stirrups are very subordinate in value to balance 

 and friction taken together, which is precisely why we 

 have used the term stirrup-riding in an opprobrious 

 sense. The " tongs-across-a-wall seat " depends on 



