58 SEATS AND SADDLES. 



length of the arm is generally prescribed as being the 

 proper length for the stirrup. This might answer well 

 enough if stirrups were always suspended at the same 

 perpendicular distance from the upper surface of the 

 saddle, and also right under the rider's seat, and if 

 men's arms and legs always bore a fixed proportion to 

 one another; all of which " ifs " turn out on nearer 

 inspection to be algebraical x's that is, very variable 

 quantities. To adjust the stirrups precisely, the rider 

 had better first mount, and then, letting these instru- 

 ments loose together, shake himself down into the 

 lowest part of the saddle, wherever that may be situated; 

 his assistant may then adjust the stirrups to a con- 

 venient length. There is no use in attempting to ignore 

 this lowest point, because every motion of the horse 

 tends invariably to throw him into it ; and if he does 

 persist in ignoring it he will find himself a mere stirrup- 

 rider, which is, in its way, quite as bad as a rein-rider, 

 the combination of both being the very climax of bad 

 riding in fact, that monkey-like fashion of clinging to 

 your steed vulgarly termed " sticking a horse." For 

 the absolute length of the stirrup no special rule can be 

 given applicable to all circumstances and to all kinds of 

 riding ; in speaking of the different kinds of seats in a 

 subsequent chapter we shall have to return to this 

 point. The only general rule that can be given is, 

 never make your stirrups so long as to render your 

 tread on them insecure, nor so short as to allow them 

 to cramp up your legs and deprive them of the requisite 

 power of motion, making you depend on the stirrups 

 and not on your seat for your position in the saddle. 

 The Orientals all ride in the short stirrups in which 

 they can stand resting on the entire sole of their feet on 



