HINTS ON RIDING 99 



should be almost entirely on her right thigh, and the 

 rise at the trot should come chiefly from the muscles 

 of the right thigh and knee, and but little from the 

 stirrup foot. The upward push of the ankle joint on the 

 stirrup-iron is, naturally, of some assistance in rising, 

 and renders the motion less fatiguing than it would 

 otherwise be, but a good rider should be able to rise 

 passably well without any iron. In rising, the right 

 knee must not slide up and down as one so often sees. 

 The test of a really good rider should be the ability to 

 balance a fifty-cent piece on the right knee when rising 

 at a trot. At first, in order to keep the knee quiet, 

 one may, perhaps, have to exert a steady pressure 

 against the inner side of the upper crutch with the 

 right leg, but after a while as the rider finds herself 

 automatically keeping her knee motionless when rising, 

 this pressure may be diminished. 



When rising to a trot the rider's body is naturally 

 in the air when one particular set of the horse's legs 

 are raised (either the near fore and off hind legs, or 

 the off fore and near hind legs), and the body is in the 

 saddle when the opposite pair are lifted. In a man's 

 saddle it makes no difference which set of legs one 

 rises to and which set one sits to, although most riders 

 acquire the habit of rising on the same respective legs. 

 It is better, however, for a man to alternate the manner 

 of rising occasionally, for it stands to reason that if the 

 rider never varies in his manner of rising, the horse will 

 always be obliged to use the same muscles to throw 

 him up, and always have the strain on the same leg, 

 and in consequence will sometimes not trot quite 

 "level.' In long-distance riding, the importance of 

 changing the set of legs on which the rider rises, in 

 order to rest the horse, is well recognized. 



