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country from which they obtained their breed, we can 

 hardly doubt that it was Egypt. We have already seen 

 that the art of horsemanship was known so early as 

 the time of Jacob. Profane historians describe it as an 

 Egyptian invention, assigning it to Osiris himself. The 

 Egyptian monarchs appear to have prided themselves in 

 having vast numbers of horses. Diodorus mentions that 

 the kings before Sesostris had a hundred stables, each for 

 two hundred horses, on the banks of the Nile between 

 Thebes and Memphis. That they possessed an esteem- 

 ed breed of horses is evident from Egyptian paintings ; 

 which, however, all corroborate those ancient writers 

 who affirm that the horse was not used in agriculture, 

 but appropriated to the pomp of luxury and war.* 



Whatever be the native country of the horse, let us be 

 thankful that we have him in as great variety as any 

 nation, and that we are a race of bold riders, well know- 

 ing how to draw forth his noble qualities, and ride him 

 with an ease and firmness of seat in gratifying contrast 

 to the unstable position of a French equestrian. 



The first requisite in horsemanship is intelligent 

 courage, the second being a just seat. The attitude 

 assumed by civilian riders throughout the United King- 

 dom is what is called "the hunting-seat," in which, in- 

 stead of " the fork," the knees form the pivot, or rather 

 hinge, the legs beneath them the grasp, while the 

 thighs, like the pastern of a horse, enSPble the body above 

 to rise and fall, as lightly as a carriage on its springs. 

 Though facility of turning in the saddle be not so easy in 

 this attitude as when the rider revolves upon his "fork," 

 Sir Francis assigns various good reasons for preferring 

 it. " One of the most usual devices by which a horse 

 endeavours to dislodge his rider is by giving to his 

 back, by a sudden kick, a jerk upwards, which, of 

 course, forces in the same direction towards the sky 

 that nameless portion of humanity which was partly 

 resting on it, and which in the cavalry cannot possibly 



* Rayner ' Economic Publique et Rural e des Egyptiens. ' 



