18 HOW TO BIDE. 



tralize each other partially in successive shocks, at the expense of the 

 horse's legs. It will be said that the use of the stirrups is to prevent the 

 rider being thus thrown forward. No doubt they do, and this kind of rider 

 always sticks out his legs towards the horse's shoulder ; in other words, he 

 transmits the shock from the hind legs to the fore ones, through the medium 

 of the stirrups (this, by the way, is the reason why stirrup-leathers are 

 broken), of course shoving the saddle constantly forward ; and these men's 

 girths can never be drawn tight enough to prevent the saddle tilting up in 

 front. Thirdly, of course his weight is not distributed equably over the 

 whole under surface of the saddle. 



The next question to be determined is, To what part of the saddle should 

 the girths be attached ? Now, it is very evident that, if the placing of the 

 weight in the centre of the saddle has the effect of transmitting an equal 

 amount of pressure to all that part of the horse's back with which the latter 

 is in contact, the attaching the girths so as to act directly on the centre of 

 the saddle will have precisely the same effect ; and the friction that results 

 — that is, the adhesiveness produced by pressure — will be equable through- 

 out, and of course least likely to injure any one particular point. 



The point from which the stirrup is suspended has nearly an equal influ- 

 ence on the stability of the saddle, and a much greater one on the form of 

 the seat than the position of the girths. If the stirrups be wrong, all the 

 rest being right will be of little avail. 



What is the legitimate use of the stirrups besides enabling us to mount 

 our horses ? The first and most obvious one is to give the rider lateral 

 support, that is, prevent his slipping off to the right or left by his seat 

 revolving round the horse's body as a wheel does round an axle. In riding 

 barebacked, or on a saddle without stirrups, if the rider falls it is most gen- 

 erally to one side, and not directly forwards or backwards ; and it is very 

 evident that the more directly upon the rider's seat the stirrups be sus- 

 pended, the more efficiently will they perform this duty, the resistance 

 offered by them being perpendicularly upwards, or precisely in the opposite 

 direction to that in which the weight falls, which is perpendicularly down- 

 wards ; whereas, if the stirrups be suspended at a distance from the rider's 

 seat, they act at an angle to the line of fall; they may, and always do, in 

 such a position change the direction of the fall, but they cannot meet and 

 prevent it so efficiently as when placed under the seat. 



