240 THE HORSE IN AMERICA 



years without acquiring either grace or skill in 

 the saddle. This was either from inaptitude or 

 from a careless disregard of the principles of the 

 art. I have known other men who had strong 

 seats, which enabled them to acquit themselves 

 well in the hunting field, but who never were 

 graceful or seemed entirely at ease. They simply 

 lacked the grace that usually is part and parcel of 

 good horsemanship. It is generally supposed 

 that at West Point Military Academy there is 

 maintained the best riding school in the country. 

 This is probably true. But I have seen compara- 

 tively few American army officers who looked 

 " smart" in the saddle. Their idea is, no doubt, to 

 be businesslike rather than finished. In this I be- 

 lieve they are quite wrong for " slouchiness " is out 

 of harmony with the military seat just as it is in the 

 park or the show ring. It finds its only appropriate 

 place among the rough riders of the plain. 



" I saw young Harry, with his beaver on, 

 His cuisses on his thighs, gallantly arm'd, 

 Rise from the ground like feather'd Mercury, 

 And vaulted with such ease into his seat, 

 As if an angel dropp'd down from the clouds, 



