122 HACKS AND HUNTERS 



and makes him tick, or drag down a rail. At the same 

 time, as already stated, in the position of leaning back, 

 were the rider to try to give the horse sufficient rein, 

 he would be obliged to let it slip through his fingers, 

 lessening control over the animal and obliging the 

 rider, after each jump, to wind it up again. In the 

 leaning forward position the rider can, on the con- 

 trary, give the animal all the head he wants, without, 

 except in unusual cases, unduly lengthening the reins 

 or letting them slip through the fingers. 



It is sometimes thought that were the animal to 

 peck badly, the rider who was leaning slightly forward 

 would go over the animal's head. Such, however, 

 would in any case not apply to a woman in a side- 

 saddle, and experience shows that it should not neces- 

 sarily apply to a man or a woman astride, unless they 

 have overdone a good thing and are leaning too far 

 forward. 



Unfortunately, some of our amateur riders seem to 

 think that if a thing is good, more of it is better, and 

 they almost climb up onto a horse's neck, retaining 

 their fantastic position even when he lands, so that 

 were he to peck they would surely go over his head, 

 or worse yet, so overbalance the poor animal that they 

 would bring him down. 



It stands to reason, of course, that in order to main- 

 tain one's balance in the saddle sufficiently well to be 

 absolutely independent of the reins, and not likely to 

 touch the horse's mouth under any circumstances, re- 

 quires above all a firm seat. The best manner in which 

 a woman may acquire this has already been discussed 

 in Chapter VII, so suffice it here to repeat that she 

 must balance from the waist up, and in case of need 

 clamp herself into the saddle by the pressure of her 



