THE SADDLE. 57 



and the whole concern makes a heavy pitch into the 

 trough of the sea just at the moment it should " run up 

 into the wind's eye." The late Sir Charles Napier 

 relates in one of his books a lamentable story of a fine 

 gallant English sergeant who lost both his arms in this 

 way ; and officers who have served in India or Algiers 

 often complain that there is no preventing the native 

 horsemen getting behind their people's backs, where, of 

 course, they have it all their own way, like a bull in a 

 china shop. Sir Charles throws the blame altogether on 

 the enormous pack the regulars are compelled to put on 

 their horses' backs. This has, no doubt, its own special 

 influence ; but anyone who has seen cavalry skirmishing, 

 and understands the mechanism we are labouring to 

 explain, must have also seen that the position of the 

 stirrup acting on the rider's seat has a great deal to do 

 with it.* 



We mentioned above that the man riding barebacked, 

 or on a saddle without stirrups, most frequently 

 tumbles off to the right or left ; well, it will be found 

 that with stirrups, especially when the latter are very 

 far forward and very short, the catastrophe generally 

 supervenes right ahead, the performer being projected, 

 in trajectories not yet described in ballistic works, away 

 over his steed's neck, to the great damage of collar- 

 bones. It is like having one's hand pierced by leaning 

 on a reed the short stirrup that is relied on for safety 

 furnishing an admirable lever-point for the equine 

 catapult. 



And this brings us to the length of the stirrup. The 



* Almost all " rider nations " place their stirrups exactly under 

 their seat. This will be evident from an inspection of some of our 

 Plates, as also that the example has been followed in the best 

 Continental cavalries. 



