148 THE SOUTHERN SEAT 



weather. To one who knows it, nothing can be more in- 

 spiriting than a fine open trot ; but a horse which can 

 go Southern gaits can trot besides, and, if the rider is as 

 clever as he, without injury to his other paces. 



The Southern seat is practically the same as the true 

 mihtary seat ; and except that the bridle-hand is wont to 

 be held a trifle too high — which is a habit caught from the 

 high pommel or roll of blankets or other baggage in 

 front of the soldier — this seat, when not exaggerated, is, all 

 things considered, the best for road -riding, and perhaps 

 would enable a man to do a greater variety of things in 

 the saddle than any other one style. And though the 

 English pigskin is perhaps a neater and more available 

 rig for our city needs, the Southerner is, in gaits and style 

 and knowledge of road work, by far the best model for 

 us to copy, as his saddle-beast is the best for us to buy. 

 This question of gaits is one to which Ave shall specially 

 recur when, in our equestrian trip across the water to the 

 original home of the horse, we find the habits that obtain 

 there. 



