THE BEST RIDER? 5 



more modern weapons and equipment, and who is every- 

 where — barring some national traits — substantially the 

 same, the home of the short seat and long stirrup is the 

 Occident, that of the long seat and short stirrup the 

 Orient ; and these are varied in every locality to suit its 

 own peculiarities, inherited or acquired. There are a few 

 exceptions to this rule, but they only serve to prove it. 

 Midway comes the Englishman, with his numerous civil- 

 ized imitators, whose seat is a compromise between the 

 long and the short. All other styles approach more or 

 less to these, and each has, among the prejudiced, its un- 

 compromising advocates. But whatever seat may be be- 

 lieved by its partisans to be the best, there are, after all 

 said, so many unsurpassed riders who break every com- 

 mandment in the civilized decalogue of equitation that 

 we cannot even ask " Who is the best rider ?" but only 

 "What is the best form for the peculiar wants of each of 

 us, or of our climate, roads, and horses ?" 



