SEAT. ID/ 



saddle which used to serve him so well from the distance 

 home. When quartered at Hounslow with his regiment, 

 the Qth Lancers, like other gay young light dragoons, he 

 liked to spend all his available time in London. There 

 were no railroads in those days, and the coaches did not 

 always suit for time ; but he owned a sound, speedy, 

 high-trotting hack, and on this " bone setter " he travelled 

 backwards and forwards twelve miles of the great Bath 

 Road, with military regularity, half as many times a 

 week. He made it a rule to cross the stirrups over his 

 horse's shoulders the moment he was off the stones at 

 either end, only to be replaced when he reached his 

 destination. In three months' time, he told me, he had 

 gained more practical knowledge of horsemanship, and 

 more muscular power below the waist, than in all the 

 hunting, larking, and riding-school drill of the previous 

 three years. 



Grace is, .after all, but the result of repressed strength. 

 The loose and easy seat that seems to sway so carelessly 

 with every motion, can tighten itself by instinct to the 

 compression of a vice, and the " prettiest rider," as they 

 say in Ireland, is probably the one whom a kicker or 

 buck-jumper would find the most difficult to dislodge. 

 No doubt in the field, the ride, the parade, or the polo- 

 ground a strong seat is the first of those many qualities 



