S) RIDING AND TRAINING SADDLE-HORSES. 



structive illustration of a bad and a good seat (fig. 8). 

 As riding is an imitative art, there is really much more 

 to be learned from these ilkistrations than from any de- 

 scription that it is in our power to give ; but the rider 

 should always bear in mind that a well-balanced horse, 

 in turning to the right or the left, turns on its center of 

 gravity, or '^center of motion;" and that if the rider's 

 weight is placed to the front or rear of this position, it 

 will not only impede the horse's free ir ovement, but will 

 feel much more disturbance than if in its proper position. 

 The learner, if he really desires to become a first-rate 

 horseman — and it is only when stimulated by this de- 

 fiire that one can really enjoy learning to ride — should 

 consider well what experience has shown to be the best 

 position (as indicated in our cuts), and jontinue his prac- 

 tice until this position becomes the most easy and natural; 

 it surely will become so by sufficient practice, and, when 

 a good seat is once obtained, it can no more be forgotten 

 than the art of swimming. 



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