28 THE SIOUX'S SEAT 



inches. There was no regulation pattern to them ; each 

 saddle was separately made, and constructed and orna- 

 mented according to the momentary taste and fancy of 

 the maker, or according to the materials at hand. It was 

 not a saddle of commerce. 



The bent-Avood stirrups were lashed in straps also cut 

 from rawhide, slung loosely on the side pieces, and work- 

 ing back and forth into all conceivable positions. Such a 

 trifle as ill -hung stirrups the Sioux never heeded. His 

 seat was not so easily disturbed as a city swell's by one 

 hole difference in his leathers. It was generally imma- 

 terial to him whether he had any stirrups at all. His 

 seat was peculiar. His leg from crotch to knee gripped 

 in an almost perpendicular position ; from the knee down 

 it was thrown sharply back, so that his weight was sus- 

 tained solely ou the crotch and the muscles of the thighs. 

 As a consequence of this seat, he pounded in his saddle 

 like a fresh recruit when riding anything but a rack or lope, 

 leaned forward like a modern track-jockey at a hand-gal- 

 lop, and stuck his heels into his pony's flanks for a hold. 

 This matter of holding on by the heels is almost univer- 

 sal among riders not civilized into the soldier's method 

 above referred to. Nine-tenths of the daily riders of the 

 world hold on by the calf and heel. How the Sioux could 

 ride as he did and escape injury from the pommel is a 

 mystery. But though smashing to atoms all the maxims 

 of equitation, ancient or modern, the old-time Sioux was 

 a good rider, and his seat Avas strong and effective. It 

 has been referred to as ungainly ; but in a certain sense, 

 no really strong seat can be such. Noteworthy ability is 

 generally h.a,ndsome per se. 



This sav^age tricked up his pony's mane and tail and 

 forelock with feathers, beads, or scrips of gaudy cloth, 

 and on occasion painted him all over with a colored clay, 



