2o8 ORIENTAL HORSEMEN 



In sharp contrast to the straight leg and 

 weight distributing saddle which has always 

 attended the use of the European horse, is the 

 universal practice associated in all ages with 

 the Bay horse of Africa, and the Dun horse of 

 Asia. My bits and scraps of reading present 

 a general picture of the Oriental horseman as 

 highly perched, w^ith a bent leg and a long 

 reach, preferring light scale or chain mail to 

 heavy armour, prone to a swift onset, a brisk 

 melee, and speedy disengagement since the 

 days of the Parthian cavalry down to the 

 Moslem conquests, and on to the chivalry of 

 India, the cossacks of Russia, and the hapless 

 Dervishes of the Soudan. From Mongolia to 

 Morocco across the whole breadth of the 

 Oriental World this high perch, bent leg and 

 long reach seem to be universal in all ages. 



In arid countries the ass and the camel were 

 ridden long before the pony, and it seems quite 

 possible that their pad saddles were trans- 

 ferred to the horse without much alteration. 

 My first impression of this was during a donkey 

 race in Portugal. Our mounts stood well over 

 fifteen hands, magnificent animals. The 

 saddle was a broad flat pad like that of women 

 athletes in a circus, and, gripping its sides with 

 one's calves, the seat was fairly secure. 



