22 BOW TO BIDE. 



which is precisely why we have used the term stirrup-riding in an oppro- 

 brious sense. Tlie " tongs-across-a-wall seat " depends on balance and the 

 stirrup, renouncing all contact of the legs with the horse's body ; the wash- 

 ball seat goes farther, and abjures balance. If the stirrups are thrown too 

 far forward, the thigh runs diagonally toward the horse's shoulder, and it is 

 evident that the greatest amount of adhesive surface is obtained by placing 

 the stirrup nearly under the rider, and making the tread on it perpendicular, 

 instead of in an angle with the horizon. 



There is a notion prevalent that a military seat is a fork -seat : this is 

 simply a popular error that requires refutation. On the other hand, some 

 people will persist in sitting on that part of their back which is still, per- 

 haps, called back, instead of on that portion of it which is honored with a 

 supplemental designation. 



What is a man to sit on ? Well, he has two bones in his seat, which we 

 venture, in imitation of German phraseology, to call his " sitting-bones," 

 and a third in the rear at tlie bottom of the spine ; this third bone com- 

 pletes, with the other two, a triangular basis for the human seat on 

 horseback. 



Whatever difference of opinion may exist as to Avhere the rider should 

 sit in his saddle, or however necessary it may be to vary the exact position 

 of the seat according to the object in view, there can be no doubt whatever 

 that the only firm and steady seat is on the triangle. No good rider sits on 

 his for/i, nor on his spinal bone, but on his seat. How this seat is to be 

 obtained depends on the conformation of the man. The toes should be 

 turned in just enough to increase the hollow of the thigh ; but the round- 

 thighed man, in order to get a hollow curve, may have to tu7'n out his toes a 

 little more than a man of slender build. 



The seat, therefore, depends on balance, on the amount of surface brought 

 into contact with the saddle, both of which in their turn depend on whether 

 the rider's weight rests on three, two, or only one corner of a triangle ; and 

 all this is necessarily modified by the position of the stirrup. We have 

 endeavored to show the relative value of each element in succession, and 

 now leave the reader to make such a combination of them as best suits his 

 purpose, reminding him merely that, although he may safely modify first 

 principles, he never can totally despise them without committing an 

 absurdity. 



