THE SEAT. 49 



one of the old-fashioned military leather stocks. Sit easily 

 and naturally as in a chair, get all of that buckram stiffness 

 out of your body, and when you give the horse his head, 

 let the whole body flex with his motion. We do not want 

 to see this yielding to his movements developed into an 

 exaggerated swing or bend, it should be nothing more than 

 an almost imperceptible sway, devoid of all lateral inclina- 

 tion. Men that look stiff and ride stiff are seldom, or never 

 ideal horsemen ; they tire themselves and fatigue their 

 horses. A man can sit perfectly upright without appearing 

 as if he wore steel corsets, had a steel w^re doing duty for 

 spinal marrow, and was trussed up like the brave old Cid 

 on Bavieca when, like Death on the Pale Horse, his mailed 

 corpse " reared on his barbed steed " led the Spanish host 

 against King Bucar of Morocco. An easy seat in no way 

 detracts from a firm one, but the very reverse. To preserve 

 a perfect equilibrium or balance, the rider's body, without 

 seeming to do so, must adapt itself and conform to every 

 movement of the horse. The position of your legs and 

 feet are well enough, but there is a certain stiffness and 

 want of play about the knee and ankle suggestive of the 

 surgical manufacturer's art rather than of a live limb, and 

 of the leg being nailed to the saddle flap. 



When you have so far perfected your grip of the saddle, 

 and have acquired confidence, then, having selected the 

 best model of your sex, one in w^hom the ease and grace 

 of being perfectly at home is contrasted with the restraint 

 and formality of the riding school, copy that model as closely 

 as can be. Be sure that he is a man who shines not only 

 in the Row, and on the road, but in the hunting field also* 

 Although the seat of hunting men varies considerably, there 

 is an undefinable something about a first-rate cross country 

 rider, a certain subtle ease, security, and confidence begotten 



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