SEATS. 83 



the blow back sooner or late7\ This is, as we all know, 

 what is called recoil or rebound ; the elastic surface 

 gives back the blow late?' and more gradually ; the 

 inelastic one sooner and more suddenly. The horse's 

 leg being elastic, it receives but a small shock from 

 the elastic turf, this being divided between both nearly 

 equally ; on the hard road nearly the whole recoil is 

 transmitted back to the horse's body through its limbs, 

 and this is nearly equal to the weight of both rider and 

 bearer. There are various means by which this recoil 

 may be diminished in intensity, to the great ease of the 

 horse. One of the most obvious is to distribute the 

 weight as nearly as possible over the middle of the 

 horse's back ; which is constructed, as we have shown, 

 in such a manner as to admit of a certain amount of 

 elastic action in a vertical direction — in plain words, up 

 and down. Two men can carry a greater weight with 

 an elastic pole on their shoulders than with a stiff one ; 

 and if the burden be not exactly in the centre of it, the 

 man to whom it is nearest will get more of the recoil 

 from the ground than the other one. Now, taking into 

 account that the road-rider does not want great speed, 

 and has at the same time an inelastic surface to deal 

 with, there can, we think, be little doubt that, by 

 placing his saddle and himself over the middle of the 

 horse's back, he will save his bearer and himself a large 

 amount of recoil. If, however, in this position he 

 thrusts his whole foot into the stirrup, he thereby 

 throws away a further chance ; for, by merely resting 

 with the ball of his foot on the bar of the stirrup his 

 knee being slightly bent, he superadds the elastic ac- 

 tion of his own legs at knee and ankle to that of the 



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