The Seat. 



by mere mechanical practice or by an unsci- 

 entific system of teaching which is very little 

 better. What will be the consequence if a 

 grown man, being anxious to become a horse- 

 man, can be shown how to use, not only his 

 limbs and muscles, but his reason and memory 

 for the purpose ? I answer that in a month 

 he will be perfectly easy upon an ordinary- 

 horse, and that in three months he will possess 

 as perfect a seat as his natural aptitude for 

 riding would have permitted him to acquire 

 if he had passed his whole life in the saddle. 



How, it may be asked, is this to be done ? 

 I answer, simply by attending to one thing 

 at a time. You want to learn how to sit a 

 horse. Very good; then put aside for the 

 present all anxiety about managing and guid- 

 ing him. Your present business is, wherever 

 he may go and whatever he may do, to con- 

 tinue steady upon his back. Therefore leave 

 it to some one else to take care that he goes 

 where he ought and does nothing which he 

 ought not. You are at present in the situa- 

 tion of a landsman going to sea, and must not 

 think about steering until you have got your 

 sea legs. 



B 2 



