IK THE SADDLE. 25 



mensely to the security, freedom, and grace of the seat. 

 It is only in this way that one can hope to become so per- 

 fect a horseman as to justify the old description as being 

 ^'sb part of the horse," of '^ seeming to grow out of the 

 horse's back." 



This branch of the subject — acquiring a good seat with 

 and without the aid of stirrups — may be appropriately 

 closed by a quotation from **Man and Horse": *^ When 



Fig. 6.— ENGLISH SADDLE. 



you can sit your horse perfectly in his trot and canter, 

 you possess a seat such as not one rider in half-a-dozen 

 ever acquires, you are still far from being a good 

 horseman, you can not, indeed, properly speaking, be 

 termed a horseman at all. But you may look forward 

 with confidence to becoming what most men would con- 

 sider an excellent horseman ; because you have had the 

 pationce and perseverance to drudge on until you have 

 2 



