THE HUNTING SEAT. 201 



home. The latter is an advantage only for circus purposes, 

 and, as we have just seen, is entirely opposed to the principles 

 of useful horsemanship. The former has nothing to recom- 

 mend it from this point of view ; because, although bumping 

 up and down in the saddle at a trot may conduce to uniformity 

 of seat on parade, it is unnecessarily fatiguing to both horse 

 and rider, and should consequently be eschewed by all prac- 

 tical horsemen who have the liberty to think for themselves. 

 As the position of the knees against the flaps of the saddle 

 should remain,as nearly fixed as possible, there should be little 

 or no play of the ankle joints when rising at the trot ; such 

 movement being confined to the joints of the knees and hips. 

 Instead of the knees being allowed to move up and down on 

 the flaps of the saddle as they would do if the ankle joints 

 were kept in play they should remain in the one fixed 

 position in which they can grip the saddle to the best 

 advantage at any moment. Indifferent horsemen can gene- 

 rally be recognised even at slow paces, by the way they 

 allow their knees to slip about on the flaps of the saddle. 



A rider as a rule should avoid putting his weight on the 

 stirrups ; for by doing so, he will lessen the power which the 

 knees have of gripping the saddle ; and by necessarily keeping 

 his legs more or less straight, motion which will have a dis- 

 turbing effect on his seat and on the movements of his mount, 

 will be imparted to his body through the stirrups. The 

 stirrups are, however, a useful aid for holding a puller, and 

 for preventing the muscles of the legs from becoming 

 fatigued. 



The heels should be somewhat depressed, so as to increase 

 the grip of the calves of the legs. If the toes are pointed in a 

 downward direction, the muscles of the calves will thereby be 

 rendered flaccid. Supposing that the feet are kept more or 

 less parallel to the horse's sides, we shall find that the closer 

 the feet are brought to the animal's ribs, the more will the grip 



