i6o The Natural Seat. 



the Haute Ecole that within proper limits it is an 

 addition, not a loss, to the education of a horse. 

 What School-riders mean when they exclude the 

 rack from School paces is that a racker has rarely 

 any other gait ; and in the usual loose-jointed rack 

 of the South a horse is certainly not well enough 

 poised for use in School performances. 



XLVIII. 



To come back to our original text, then, it is 

 quite impossible to say, as a whole, what seat is 

 intrinsically the best, or what nation furnishes the 

 best of riders. It appears to me that there is 

 such a thing as a natural seat. Such a seat is 

 clearly shown on the frieze of the Parthenon, and 

 in a less artistic way may be seen among any 

 horsemen riding without stirrups. Although Xen- 

 ophon has been misunderstood in this particular, 

 I feel convinced that his description calls for what 

 I understand to be the natural seat. And the 

 best military riders make the nearest approach to 

 this position. By military seat I by no means in- 

 tend to convey the idea of a straight leg, forked 

 radish style. That is not the military seat proper. 

 It is only in spite of such a seat, or in spite of 

 the short stirrup of the East, and because they 

 are always in the saddle, that the Mexican gaucho 

 and the Arab of the desert both ride as magnifi- 

 cently as they do. The best military rider should, 



