IN THE SADDLE. 27' 



point of the horse's back, directly over the fourteenth 

 vertebra — that is, about half way between the withers and 

 the coupling (or top of the hips) — there is located what 

 he calls the center of motion and the center of strength ; 

 the central point from which the forces of the horse, 

 when carrying weight, may be figuratively said to radiate. 

 In other wo»'ds, this is the point — the middle of the back 

 — where weight can be most easily carried, where the 

 least motion will be imparted to it, and where its distri- 

 bution will be most equal over all four of the horse's feet; 

 consequently, it is over thys point that the rider's center 

 of gravity should fall. As the rider should sit in the 

 middle of his saddle in order that it may transmit his 

 weight equally over so much of the horse's back as it 

 touches, the middle of the saddle should be over this 

 center of motion. As the fastening of the saddle by the 

 girths should be directly under the rider's center of grav- 

 ity, it follows that they should be under this center of 

 motion. And, again, as it is important that when the 

 rider's weight is transferred to the stirrups, it should not 

 thereby be transferred to another point on the saddle, 

 the attachment of the stirrups should also be in the 

 center of the saddle. The reasoning on which these di- 

 rections are based seem sound ; but they are so different 

 from the practice in which the writer has been trained, 

 that he cannot fully indorse the recommendation without 

 trial, though he is quite ready to advise that they be borne 

 in mind, and that they be conformed to as nearly as the 

 construction of our present saddles will admit. His own 

 inclination would be to set the saddle a little further for- 

 ward, and to place the stirrups a little in advance of its 



