48 HORSEMAXSHJP. 



see the back of his thumb and upper edge of the fore-finger 

 only. The position of the body is perfectly upright and 

 straight, shoulders well squared, chest thrown out, small of 

 the back drawn in, and the head so placed that the line 

 of vision be directed straight between the horse's ears. Feet 

 should be almost parallel to the sides of the horse, the toes 

 slightly turned out so that the calf of the leg be brought 

 to bear against the horse's sides j heels depressed, and the 

 ball of the foot resting on the sole of the stirrup iron. The 

 grip should extend from the knees to half-way down the calf 

 of the leg, the knees being just sufficiently bent to permit 

 the rider, when rising on his stirrups at the trot, to rise and 

 fall without undue display of daylight. An easy posture is 

 for the back of the heel to be in a perpendicular line with 

 the posterior bend or hollow of the knee. The whip, which 

 till the reins are taken up and arranged, is in the fork 

 formed by the thumb and fore-finger of the left hand, is 

 transferred by being drawn — not flourished — into the right. 



The right hand is then permitted to hang down in a 

 natural position. 



Now, then, as to an equally correct, less studied, and, 

 therefore, much easier seat. Permit me to walk or ride 

 round you and to make a few slight alterations. Turn the 

 thumb of your bridle hand more down, your knuckles almost 

 across the horse's neck, and drop the hand a bit ; rest the 

 back of the right hand easily on the thigh. Do not sit bolt 

 upright, as if you had swallowed a ramrod or had gone 

 through a severe course of back-board drill ; do not, on the 

 contrary, roach your back, poke your head forward, and sit 

 all-of-a-heap in a toad-like position ; do not adopt what Sir 

 Bellingham Graham termed "awash-ball seat." There is 

 no occasion whatever for you to look straight out between 

 the horse's ears, and to hold vour neck as if it were slued to 



