THE SEAT ON HORSEBACK. 131 



is almost universal with American horsewomen, 

 and is exactly the one which a rider nearly al- 

 ways assumes when seated sideways on a horse 

 without a saddle. Instead of sitting squarely, 

 with the entire front of her body facing in the 

 direction toward which the horse is going, she 

 sits crosswise. It will be seen by looking at 

 Fig. 21, that the central vertical line of her 

 back, instead of being directly in the centre of 

 the saddle, is placed toward the right corner of 

 it, and that her shoulders are out of line, the 

 left one being thrown back, and the right one 

 advanced forward. This position makes it im- 

 possible for her to keep in unison with her horse 

 when he is moving straight forward at an easy 

 pace. When he changes his gait to a canter 

 the rider will, for a short distance, appear to be 

 more in harmony with him, because he is now 

 turning himself slightly to the left and leading 

 with his right fore-leg, a position which is more 

 in unison with that of his rider. But, after a 

 short time, the horse gets tired of this canter, 

 turns to the right, and leads with his left fore- 

 leg. This change entirely destroys the appar- 

 ent harmony which had before existed between 

 the two. 



The lady, knowing nothing about the posi- 

 tion of a horse when galloping or cantering, is 



