SADDLING. 89 



tlie girtlis on that particular horse will get to, and 

 stop in, one particular place, wherever you may put 

 them to start with. Now, the girths ought to be so 

 adjusted to the saddle that when the girths have 

 got into this place the saddle is in the position you 

 want it to be. 



But in very many horses, when the girths are in 

 the place they always get into, the saddle is too 

 forward, or, to put it in another way, there is too 

 much of the saddle in front of the girths, and 

 too little behind them. The way to remedy this is 

 to bring the girth nearer to the front of the saddle, 

 and this is done by altering the girth straps. If the 

 strap that lies the farthest back is taken away, and 

 a similar strap nailed on to the tree of the saddle in 

 front of the other two straps, and if the girths are 

 then attached to the two forwardest straps, the 

 forwardest girth being drawn the tightest, then the 

 saddle will be in the proper position on the horse's 

 back. 



The stirrup leathers should, for hunting, or 

 indeed for any riding, always be of the best leather 

 and workmanship you can get ; that is, whatever 

 saddler you buy thein of, it is always prudent to buy 

 the best and most expensive he has got, as your safety 

 in a great measure depends on their being good. It 

 is also a good plan to commence each hunting season 

 with new stirrup leathers, and thus never use one 

 pair for more than one season for hunting. 



