32 SIDE-SADDLES. 



COVERING OF A SIDE-SADDLE. 



The seats of good saddles are generally of pigskin, 

 and the flaps of cow-hide. The fact of the seat being 

 of buckskin or other rough leather will increase the 

 lady's security in the saddle, but may somewhat detract 

 from the smartness of her appearance, especially if the 

 leather is white. I can see no objection to the seat of 

 the saddle being of rough brown leather. Formerly, all 

 side-saddles had a " stuffed safe," in which the front part 

 of the near flap is padded, but nowadays it is rarely, 

 if ever, used by smart hunting people. It is evidently 

 the surviving remains of the voluminous pad, upon 

 which ladies used to rest the lower part of their right 

 leg in the days before the leaping head was in- 

 vented. Ornamental stitching about the seat and safe 

 of a saddle is equally out of date. 



PANEL. 



It is all important that the panel should be so care- 

 fully stuffed, that the rider's weight will be evenly dis- 

 tributed over the bearing surfaces of her animal's back. 

 Even if this is done to perfection, the desirable arrange- 

 ment will last for only a short time, if the stuffing is of 

 the wrong kind of material. Instead of using fine wool 

 (best flock), incompetent or unduly economical saddlers 

 often employ flock which is largely composed of cotton 

 waste, and, consequently, when they stuff or re-stuff a 

 saddle, lumps, from the absorption of perspiration, are 



