HINTS ON RIDING 87 



is largely responsible for the charge that a side-saddle 

 produces enlargement of one hip. 



The entire body above the waist should be supple 

 and at ease; the rider should be able to sway slightly 

 with the horse's motion at a canter, and should be 

 able to lean well forward at a gallop or over a jump. 

 She should also be able to bend backward so that her 

 head touches the animal's rump, or bend sidewise, so 

 as to be able to touch her toes without in any way 

 altering the uniform position of her legs. This bal- 

 ance and grace must be obtained entirely from the 

 hip joints, and the indefinable swing and rhythm 

 which mark a good rider is of the same type as that 

 which characterizes a good dancer or an expert skater. 



On the other hand, at no time should suppleness 

 degenerate into sloppiness or limpness. At all times 

 the back, though supple and by no means stiff or rigid, 

 should, nevertheless, be quite erect and should not 

 appear to collapse at every movement of the horse. 



Although, at a trot, the line which is almost per- 

 pendicular is the most correct, it is preferable to lean 

 slightly forward rather than to lean back. Leaning 

 too far forward at the trot is a failing which many 

 hunting women are apt to fall into, owing to the 

 amount of jumping which they do and to the long 

 hours which they remain in the saddle at a gallop. 

 When the habit is thus naturally acquired, it is at 

 least unobjectionable, but it should never be as- 

 sumed artificially, as is sometimes done, in order to 

 appear like a hunting woman. In fact any style of 

 riding, even one which is bad form, if natural and un- 

 conscious, is preferable to affectation or "pose." 



The head should be held in a natural and easy posi- 

 tion, as if when walking on foot, and should not move 



