3^ Modern JRiding and Horse Education 



ance. It may surprise some of my readers to be 

 told that the Cavalry Schools of France, Italy, and 

 Austria had already adopted the hunting seat. 



The campaign in South Africa again proved, as 

 the Peninsular War appeared to have done, that the 

 straight-legged seat was most wearing to both man 

 and horse on the march, and quite unsuitable for 

 crossing obstacles. 



Mobility, i. e., getting on to the battle-field, is 

 and must be in the future of far more importance 

 than greater efficiency for possible shock action on 

 arrival. This latter advantage was not acknowl- 

 edged by the Eastern nations, who have never been 

 heavy men on heavy horses and charged knee to 

 knee. Circling independently on the plain, they 

 claim that shortened stirrups give the striker a 

 longer reach. Berenger, writing when the straight- 

 legged seat was most fashionable in Western Eu- 

 rope, said that the Turks rode with their stirrups 

 so short that their knees were almost as much bent 

 as when sitting on their hams on a sofa, in order to 

 " collect themselves better, and to be able to rise up, 

 as it were, when they were going to attack an enemy, 

 and strike a blow." 



