THE MILITARY SEAT. 97 



185 J lb. is dead weight, or within 13 lb. of what the 

 French authority lays down as the total admissable 

 burden. Now it is remarkable that, notwithstanding 

 this unfavourable state of things, we have hitherto 

 heard nothing about Prussian sore-back disasters in the 

 campaign of 1866, although the cavalry did an im- 

 mense deal of work ; and this can only be attributed 

 to a better seat and method of riding than the French, 

 for the dead weight is absolutely greater.* 



If anything is to be made of cavalry in future wars, 

 the burden of the horses must he diminished. The most 

 obvious way is by lessening the detid weight ; but why 

 should not smaller men be selected % After all, what is 

 really necessary is, that the soldier should he tall enough 

 to mount with ease and to clean his horse. Anything 

 beyond that is superfluous. 



Let us compare with the above, in order to show 

 how far a " hunting- seat " method is applicable to 

 cavalry purposes, some English standards of weight for 

 flat-racing and steeplechasing, taken at random from 

 the newspapers. For five-year-olds we find 10 st., 12 

 lb., or 152 lb., for half a mile flat, and 12 st., or 168 

 lb., for aged horses. For five-year-olds, 10 st. 12 lb. 

 ^152 lb., and for six-year-olds, 11 st. 4 lb. = 158 lb., 

 for two miles' steeplechase. For five-year-olds, 11 st. 

 7 lb. ^-161 lb., and for an aged mare, 12 st, = 168 

 lb.," for a three-mile hunter's stakes steeplechase. These 

 are, we believe, fair samples ; but the horses that carry 

 these weights do it once for all : they are the best of 

 their kind perhaps in the world, and are trained and 

 fed in a way quite beyond the reacli of cavalry. The 

 immediate object, too, is to take the most out of the 



*' There were only too many sore backs both in 1866 and 1870 

 in the Prussian cavahy. 



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