24 Long or Short Seat. 



and, through the Spaniards, has found its way to 

 every part of the Americas. But as a rule, wild 

 riders have the bent knee which gives the firmest 

 bareback seat. The long stirrup and high , can- 

 tie must not be condemned for certain purposes. 

 When not carried to the furthest extreme they 

 have decided advantages. It is by no means sure 

 that any other seat would be equally easy on the 

 cantering mustang for so many scores of miles a 

 day as many men on the plains customarily cover. 

 And though for our city purposes and mounts it 

 is distinctly unavailable, one must be cautious in 

 depreciating a seat which is clung to so tena- 

 ciously by so many splendid riders. It is a mis- 

 take to suppose that the Southerners and Mexi- 

 cans, as well as soldiers, all ride with straight leg. 

 While you often see this fault carried to an ex- 

 treme among all these, the best horsemen I have 

 generally observed riding with a naturally bent 

 knee. And it takes a great deal to convince a 

 good rider of any of these classes that a man 

 who will lean and rise to a trot knows the ABC 

 of equestrianism. 



Whether the first saddle had a short seat and 

 long stirrups, a la militaire, or a long seat with 

 short ones, a VAiiglaise, matters little. Though 

 the original home of the horse boasts to-day the 

 shortest of stirrups (and even in Xenophon's time 

 this appears to have been the Asiatic habit), a 



