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258 ON THE PACES, AND 



rider's feat ; he is chiefly to guard againft the 

 la(h of the animal's hind legs ; which is beft 

 done, by inclining the body backward. Ob- 

 ferve farther, that your legs and thighs are 

 " not to be (liffened, and, as it were, braced up, 

 " but your loins (hould be lax and pliable, like 

 " the coachman's on his box. By fitting thus 

 " loofely, every rough motion of the horfe will 

 " be eluded; but the ufual method of fixing 

 " the knees, only ferves, in great {hocks, to af- 

 " fifl the violence of the fall. To fave your- 

 " :felf from being hurt, in this cafe, you muff. 

 " yield a little to the horfe's motion ; by which 

 " means you will recover your feat, when an 

 * unfkilful horfeman would be difmounted. 



w Take, likewife, particular care not to ftretch 

 " out your legs before you, becaufe, in fo do- 

 <f ing, you are pufhed on the back of the fad- 

 " die ; nor mud you gather up your knees, as 

 " if riding upon a pack, for then your thighs 

 M are thrown upwards. Let your legs hang 

 perpendicular, and fit not on the thicker! 

 part of your thighs, but let them bear in- 

 wards, that your knees and toes may incline 

 " inwards likewife" I have before alhgned a 

 reafon for the prefent practice of riding with 

 the knee fomewhat bent, and the toe turned in 

 a fmall degree outward, and upward ; and this 

 fmall deviation will, by no means, affecl; the ge- 

 neral utility of Hughes's fvflem. He proceeds : 



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