SEAT OF SIDE-SADDLE. 55 



hunting, we must not entertain the ridiculous idea of 

 having a light saddle, so that it may look particularly 

 smart. A fair weight for a side-saddle is one-seventh of 

 the weight of the rider, that is to say, two pounds for 

 every stone she weighs, with a minimum weight of 18 Ibs. 



SHAPE OF THE SEAT OF A SIDE-SADDLE. 



The level-seated fad which some fashionable saddlers 

 try to impress on their inexperienced customers is an 

 absurdity from a hunting point of view, because no 

 one out of an idiot asylum would care to sit for 

 several hours on a perfectly level surface, whether it 

 was a saddle or a chair. The discomfort which such 

 an attempt would entail, is due to the fact that the 

 nature of our anatomy requires a certain amount of 

 dip in that portion of the seat upon which most of 

 the weight falls. The level-seated idea is purely 

 theoretical, because no saddles are made in conform- 

 ance with it. For hunting we must have comfort, 

 without, of course, any undue violation of smartness. 

 Besides, a certain amount of dip in the seat, similar to 

 that shown in Fig. 16, is an aid to security. A cut- 

 back pommel (Fig. n) improves the look of a side- 

 saddle without diminishing the rider's grip. The seat 

 on the near side should be eased off, so as to allow 

 the rider's left leg to get close to the horse ; and the 

 near side, close to the cantle, should be made a little 

 higher than the off side, in order to correct any tendency 

 there may be to sit too much over on the near side. 



The saddles which I used on Romance (Fig. 4), 



