CHAPTER III 



SEAT, LEGS AND SPURS 



" Use your hands and legs with judgment. Let your 

 one object be to keep your horse perfectly balanced. Do 

 not allow him to leave this position of his own accord, as 

 it is the foundation and complement of his education, and 

 before three months have passed the most ignorant animal 

 will do his work with remarkable precision." — Baucher.* 



" The perfect horseman knows how to utilise the qualities 

 which make a horse dangerous in the hands of an inex- 

 perienced rider ; he knows how to cadence and extend the 

 paces, how to obtain the most out of his horse with the 

 least fatigue. He gives ease and grace to his horse's move- 

 ments, by the appropriateness of his demands, and the 

 guidance of his aids. He masters the will of a rebel, and 

 the most restive brutes become useful in his hands, because 

 he knows how to turn to his own ends the energy which is 

 prepared to resist him. In a word, the more capable the 

 horse of lightness and energy, even though ill-dispositioned, 

 the more submission, grace and power, the true horseman is 

 able to command. But, to obtain these results, it is neces- 

 sary to work hard, in order to know how to prepare the 

 horse rightly, to demand properly, and to exact with 

 energy."' — Lieut, de Saint Phalle. 



To have a good seat it is first of all necessary 

 to have a well-made comfortable saddle, one 

 with a slight dip in the centre, a fairly roomy 



* F. Baucher lived in the reign of Louis Philippe and 

 was the author, between the years 1833 and 1859, of many 

 books on horsemanship, to the practical study of which he 

 devoted his life. 



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