The Seat. 23 



You cannot indeed, properly speaking, be 

 termed a horseman at all. But you may look 

 forward with confidence to becoming what 

 most men would consider an excellent horse- 

 man ; because you have had the patience and 

 perseverance to drudge on until you have 

 been bumped and jolted into a smooth and 

 solid union with your saddle. It is by the 

 absence of this union, and by the abrupt 

 shocks and displacements to which they are 

 consequently exposed, that so many riders are 

 disabled from acquiring the proper use of their 

 hands and legs, and consequently from ever 

 becoming masters of their horses. 



4. Riding with Stirrups . You have hither- 

 to ridden, if not altogether without stirrups, 

 at least without making any perceptible use of 

 them ; and your experience has, I trust, con- 

 vinced you that a perfectly firm seat may be 

 acquired without their assistance. If, in fact, 

 a good horseman rides more securely with 

 than without stirrups, this is not because they 

 help him to keep his seat, but only because, 

 if he should happen by any accident to lose it, 

 they enable him to recover it with ease and 



