SADDLING THE HORSE. 103 



I do not like these cheap machine-made saddles, 

 which, to my mind, are as unmistakable in their 

 nppearance as Cawnpore ones, being made from inferior 

 pigskin, with long coarse stitches, and, as a rule, fib 

 the back by reason of extra stuffing in the pannel, and 

 not by the proper shape of the tree. As the substance 

 of each hide varies in its different parts, while the 

 strength, which is applied to each stitch by the 

 machine, remains uniform, the sewing is much inferior 

 to that by hand. 



A saddle should have as little stuffing, as possible, 

 compatible with an accurate fit and immunity from 

 the danger of its hurting the horse's back. 



O O 



The best makers construct saddles now-a-days so 

 admirably, that they leave little, if anything, to be 

 desired. 



Saddling tlie Horse. The saddle should be placed 

 a little behind the shoulder blade, so that it may not 

 interfere with the play of that part. It may be put 

 further back if the rider wishes to save the horse's 

 fore legs. 



The idea that the saddle should be placed in the 

 centre of the back of the horse, regarding him as a sort 

 of four legged table, betrays a strange ignorance of the 

 anatomy of the animal, for the chief office of the fore 

 legs is to support weight, that of the hind to propel it y 

 while the respective methods of attachment of both 

 extremities to the trunk point to the same thing, hence 

 when the attainment of speed is our object, the saddle 

 should be placed as far forward as possible. 



Before girthing up, the groom should, if a. saddle 



