THE MILITARY SEAT. 101 



somewhat forward in order to get his balance, whilst 

 h strains them backwards. At c the lowest part of the 

 bearing-strap is in the middle of the saddle, all of which 

 variation depends on the lacing, supposing the length 

 of the strap itself to be the same : c therefore sits on 

 his triangle with his body upright and his legs coming 

 down in their natural fall, his whole weight being 

 spread over the entire under-surface of the saddle- 

 blades ; whilst it is evident that the weight of a, being 

 far to the rear, will press down the hinder ends of the 

 saddle-blades into the horse's back, tilting up the front 

 ends j 6, on the contrary, drives the saddle-blade ends 

 into the horse's withers : a's saddle will probably run 

 forward, 6's horse run through the girths. 



The place of the stirrup and its influence on the 

 seat is here altogether left out of consideration. It 

 should be made to accord with the seat, and not the 

 seat with it, otherwise the rider is always "contending 

 against" his stirrups, instead of "depending on them." 



How the bearing-strap of the saddle should be ex- 

 actly laced will depend altogether on the " plenitude" 

 or " poverty" of the seat of honour of each individual 

 rider. A very full-sized sitting part requires the lacing 

 to approach that shown at a in order to make the rider 

 sit like c ; a very spare man, on the contrary, will re- 

 quire something like h for the same purpose : for most 

 young men it will do best as at c* 



* The bearing-strap of the seat is best made of a piece of good 

 girthing- web, doubled together so as to form, with its central por- 

 tion, a collar to embrace neatly the hinder knob of the saddle,the 

 two branches beingsewed hy their edges together down the mid- 

 dle of the seat, and ending, the one with a strap, the other with a 

 buckle, which, when united, form a corresponding collar for the 

 front knob. Brass eyelet-holes stamped into the outer edges at 



