70 SEATS AND SADDLES. 



balance and the stirrup, renouncing all contact of th 

 legs with the horse's body; the wash-ball seat go 

 further, and abjures balance. In Chapter IL, when 

 speaking of the position of the stirrup in the saddle, we 

 could only give some of the reasons why this should 

 be central. We have now arrived at a point that ren- 

 ders it possible to give the remaining ones, which are 

 of no less importance. They are these : The interior 

 surfaces of a tolerably well-built man's thighs and legs, 

 from the fork to the heels, are curved in concave or 

 hollow sweeps, that may be varied from the kiiee down- 

 wards by turning the toes more or less outwards;'^ and 

 if we look at a horse from the rear, it will be very 

 evident that his midship section — that is to say, the 

 lines we should see if the animal were chopped fairly 

 in two right through his fourteenth vertebra — coincides 

 very accurately with the sweep of the rider's legs. At 

 top, no doubt, the figure is flatter than the man's fork, 

 but the ridge of the saddle fills up the empty space to 

 a certain extent : besides which, no good rider sits in 

 his fork, but on his seat. Further, although the horse's 

 body is rounded away under the belly, the possibility 

 of varying the curve of the leg from the hiee down- 

 wards enables the rider to preserve contact very low 

 down: he can encircle his horse nearly two-thirds when 

 sitting on this line. 



If, on the contrary, the stirrup be placed too far for- 

 ward the thioii inns dia^onallv forwards toward the^ 

 horse's shoulder. Now let us look at the horse from 

 the front, standing exactly opposite to his forehead. 



* It is therefore very absurd to insist on any specific measure 

 for this. Even a rouud-thigbed man may get up a hollow curve 

 b}' turning out his toes a little in excess. 



